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113th out of 637 books
—
636 voters
The Inhuman Condition (Books of Blood #4)
by
Clive Barker
A master storyteller and unrivaled visionary, Clive Barker has mixed the real and unreal with the horrible and wonderful in more than twenty years of fantastic fiction. The Inhuman Condition is a masterwork of surrealistic terror, recounting tragedy with pragmatism, inspiring panic more than dread and evoking equal parts revulsion and delight.
Paperback, 192 pages
Published
March 1st 2001
by Gallery Books
(first published 1986)
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In 1986, Clive Barker followed the enormous success of the first three volumes of The Books Of Blood, with a final three volumes to create the entire Books Of Blood series. His two omnibus's were later to be broken down, to be sold as individual books. Barker was invited to be able to illustrate these covers, with his dark and twisted artwork.
This volume was also released in America under the name 'The Inhuman Condition'. The six volumes were all released in their individual forms back in 1985,...more
This volume was also released in America under the name 'The Inhuman Condition'. The six volumes were all released in their individual forms back in 1985,...more
The Dark Weaveworld of Clive Barker, Part 1 of 3: “The Inhuman Condition”
In the mid-to-late eighties, after the first three successful installments of the Books of Blood, the next three in the series were released under the same title. Earlier this year, these three books were re-released in paperback from Pocket books. The Books of Blood IV and V were published under the names of the first short story in each respective book: The Inhuman Condition and In the Flesh. The Books of Blood VI was pub...more
In the mid-to-late eighties, after the first three successful installments of the Books of Blood, the next three in the series were released under the same title. Earlier this year, these three books were re-released in paperback from Pocket books. The Books of Blood IV and V were published under the names of the first short story in each respective book: The Inhuman Condition and In the Flesh. The Books of Blood VI was pub...more
What was originally Books of Blood Vol. IV is a solid, and at times brilliant, collection of Clive Barker fiction.
"The Inhuman Condition" -- A vagrant picks up a rope lined with three knots after the gang he's with beat up an old drunk. The vagrant then decides to undo the knots thus unleashing demons once under the drunks' control. ***1/2 (There aren't any heroes here and the action is grim but early Barker was like that. Very well written.
"The Body Politic" -- A man's hands decide to revolt ag...more
"The Inhuman Condition" -- A vagrant picks up a rope lined with three knots after the gang he's with beat up an old drunk. The vagrant then decides to undo the knots thus unleashing demons once under the drunks' control. ***1/2 (There aren't any heroes here and the action is grim but early Barker was like that. Very well written.
"The Body Politic" -- A man's hands decide to revolt ag...more
There has been a Clive Barker overload lately, and though it is not unpleasant I have chosen to come back to him later... er, read the stuff I still have not. He is a re-visitable auteur.
"Books of Blood" were published in the U.K. in the 80s and now we have "In the Flesh" and this, "The Inhuman Condition" which are the same book published under different names in different collections.
There are five chilling tales here, and though none captured me the way "The Forbidden" did (ok, I keep mention...more
"Books of Blood" were published in the U.K. in the 80s and now we have "In the Flesh" and this, "The Inhuman Condition" which are the same book published under different names in different collections.
There are five chilling tales here, and though none captured me the way "The Forbidden" did (ok, I keep mention...more
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****1/2
This was one of the early Barker collections I picked up as a kid, I believe after reading "In the Flesh" and "Books of Blood Vol. 2" (I read things in any old damn order back then). All of his short story collections provide great examples of what makes a compelling horror tale, and this one's no exception.
The best stories in the book are "The Age of Desire", in which a medical guinea pig has his hormones infected with a disease which slowly causes his body to fail and at the same time f...more
This was one of the early Barker collections I picked up as a kid, I believe after reading "In the Flesh" and "Books of Blood Vol. 2" (I read things in any old damn order back then). All of his short story collections provide great examples of what makes a compelling horror tale, and this one's no exception.
The best stories in the book are "The Age of Desire", in which a medical guinea pig has his hormones infected with a disease which slowly causes his body to fail and at the same time f...more
The Inhuman Condition is the fourth Book of Blood to be carved in Simon McNeal's flesh, if you know what I mean. The book comes with five great short stories:
Talk about all the pain that McNeal had to endure to have these stories written.
The Inhuman Condition is an interesting read overall. Like in the previous volumes, primal fears and obsessions are one of the recurring themes of the series. Feature...more
1. The Inhuman Condition
2. The Body Politic
3. Revelations
4. Down, Satan!
5. The Age ofDesireSEX
Talk about all the pain that McNeal had to endure to have these stories written.
The Inhuman Condition is an interesting read overall. Like in the previous volumes, primal fears and obsessions are one of the recurring themes of the series. Feature...more
The Inhuman Condition was the American release of Barker's later fourth volume of his books of blood. As with the first three volumes, the author continues his exploration into the extreme reaches of horror. Back in the late 80s, I heard Clive Barker speak and he stated he was trying to remove good and evil as a condition to terror. Terror can exist as an independent entity not related to a struggle between good and evil. I don't know where he is on that idea now. He unfortunately drifted from h...more
Classic Barker - if you're a fan, don't miss this one. I thought I had read all of the Books of Blood back in high school, but I didn't remember these stories at all.
The book includes 5 short stories:
The Inhuman Condition
A group of delinquents beat up an old homeless man for fun. But when one of them steals a knotted cord from him, and obsessively starts to loose the knots, he may loose demons upon the world... or worse.
The Body Politic
A fresh take on the horror trope of hands that turn agains...more
The book includes 5 short stories:
The Inhuman Condition
A group of delinquents beat up an old homeless man for fun. But when one of them steals a knotted cord from him, and obsessively starts to loose the knots, he may loose demons upon the world... or worse.
The Body Politic
A fresh take on the horror trope of hands that turn agains...more
I'm not quite sure how to rate this
There are 5 short stories. The first 2 are amazing.
The third is good
The last 2, I didn't care for
The first, The Inhuman Condition, is terrifying as is the title story about a knot and the demons that hell unleashes when the knot is undone. Original and kept me interested
The second, The Body Politic, Charlie has the strangest thoughts. He thinks his hands are planning a revolt, plotting against him and the whole human race. Very original
The third, Revelations, A...more
There are 5 short stories. The first 2 are amazing.
The third is good
The last 2, I didn't care for
The first, The Inhuman Condition, is terrifying as is the title story about a knot and the demons that hell unleashes when the knot is undone. Original and kept me interested
The second, The Body Politic, Charlie has the strangest thoughts. He thinks his hands are planning a revolt, plotting against him and the whole human race. Very original
The third, Revelations, A...more
The fourth volume of Clive Barker's famed Books of Blood series is one of the strongest collections. The first and title story, The Inhuman Condition, is a surreal imaginative story of cords with elaborate knots which, when loosed, unleash a strange beast. The second story, The Body Politic, is almost funny in its concept...hands that have a conscious of their own and rebel against the rest of the body, demanding that they have their freedom. There's probably some deep metaphors at work here, bu...more
No horror writer I have encountered is more inventive and few fiction writers are more gifted at conveying a scenario and its meaning than Clive Barker in his young days. His inventiveness became too idiosyncratic and less credible as he ventured into fantasy work. That he is a great writer and totally thorough and original would be enough to make him noteworthy. But it is the way he deals with sex that pushes him into the sphere of truly brave art and, unfortunately, out of the mainstream. This...more
Oh, man. I was at a book store recently thumbing through "The Books of Blood" trying to remember the stories in that book. I couldn't remember more than a handful of the stories, even with the titles and opening lines right in front of me. I only read that book about two years ago, so it kind of scared me that I couldn't remember more than the first couple of stores (probably the first book). Anyway, my point is that I think I prefer reading Barker's stories in smaller chunks like this. His imag...more
Though initially titles as "Books of Blood Part IV" this collection isn't really quite up to the previous books; though most of the stories are thoroughly realized, they somehow lack the "juice" of the previous work. And, unfortunately, "Body Politic" is the worst of all of Barker's stories I have read so far---perhaps a more comedic treatment might have helped this premise?
One of the follow up collections of short stories after his Books of Blood (in England it was another book of blood). In any case, some great short stories that aim to horrify; it's not as strong as the first three collections (Books of Blood), but worthy of any horror collection. "The Body Politic" really stands out.
A few of the stories such as Body Politic (a man's hands decide to liberate themselves and other hands across the globe as Messiahs) made this collection of short stories scary enough I didn't want to go to sleep. Even the ones that were not "as good" were still fantastic.
Five short stories, averages out to 4 stars. I've read long books and short story compilations by Barker and find that he really shines in the short story format.
The Inhuman Condition 3 stars
The Body Politic 5 stars
Revelations 4 stars
Down, Satan! 3 stars
The Age of Desire 5 stars
The Inhuman Condition 3 stars
The Body Politic 5 stars
Revelations 4 stars
Down, Satan! 3 stars
The Age of Desire 5 stars
More of a mixed bag than the previous volumes of the Books of Blood. A handful of strong stories -- "the body politic", "the inhuman condition" -- only go so far to make up for their lesser counterparts. Several stories are dragged out to near novella length despite the lack of anything interesting or horrifying, while one of the more intriguing premises (Down, Satan!) is left little more than a sketch, a scant 7 or 8 pages. Uneven, but still somewhat enteraining.
A good collection of five short stories, perfect for people like me who think, "Clive Barker? Yeah, great," then sees the size of Cabal and Weaveworld and starts to lose heart.
Some of the stories are shorter, like "Down, Satan!", which leave it to your imagination to fill in the horrifying details. Whatever you come up with will probably pale in comparison to what Clive Barker can come up with.
My personal favorite was "The body politic", which takes the concept of alien hand syndrome to its log...more
Some of the stories are shorter, like "Down, Satan!", which leave it to your imagination to fill in the horrifying details. Whatever you come up with will probably pale in comparison to what Clive Barker can come up with.
My personal favorite was "The body politic", which takes the concept of alien hand syndrome to its log...more
Nice. There was a story about hands rebelling, which was kind of funny, in a twisted way, though pretty unlikely. A serum that causes a man to go crazy, a man who builds a form of hell on earth and creatures bound in knots in a string. Very unusual stories.
Part of Clive Barker's Books of Blood. In my opinion Barker shines best with his short stories. When his limitless ideas are confined to shorter works, narrative is not eclipsed by concept. Pick up the entire Books of Blood collection if you can.
5 short tales - My favorites being The Inhuman Condition and Revelations. I've been rereading some Clive Barker since I haven't really read much of him since the late 80's or early 90's. I picked this one up used, and hadn't read this one before.
Classic Barker, by turns, gruesome and gorgeous. Drags a bit with the "ghost story" in the middle, but otherwise an entertaining read approaching the Halloween season...
BiblioBabe Kat gave this book a 9/10... read her review here: http://www.bibliobabes.ca/2/post/2011...
Clive Barker's gore-based horror stories were a breath of fresh air after some of the moody, plodding horror books I'd been reading.
Oct 16, 2011
Matthew Austin
added it
A very good collection of short stories, not as lengthy or as enjoyable as Books of Blood, but nice. The Age of Desire was undoubtedly the best of them.
If you like a good short story collection in the horror genre, this will hit the spot. Absolutely loved every story in there.
Man, I just love Clive Barker short stories. Like King, that's where (I think) his greatest strengths lay.
Mostly very good stories, the shorter ones were just OK. I think the weirder Barker writes, the better he is.
Good but I didn't think most of these five tales were as powerful as the material in the Books of Blood.
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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...more
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“The world had seen so many Ages: the Age of Enlightenment; of Reformation; of Reason. Now, at last, the Age of Desire. And after this, an end to Ages; an end, perhaps, to everything.”
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updated Oct 26, 2007 04:45am