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The Cilicium Quadra
Sister Cilice has such sights to show you...
A woman is placed in a convent against her will and fantasizes against power, domination, sensuality and freedom—all the things which are forbidden to her. Discovering a key to the Schism that brings forth the Order of the Gash, she fearlessly summons the Cenobites, who are astounded at her willingness to trade her humanity for infernal, eternal sensation.
Enter Sister Cilice's dominion, where puzzle boxes find a new diabolical purpose, a female rebellion rises up from the fetid air of hell and a mother of all demons is created.
Cover art by Steph Sciullo.
Cover design and internal illustrations by Adrian Baldwin.
A woman is placed in a convent against her will and fantasizes against power, domination, sensuality and freedom—all the things which are forbidden to her. Discovering a key to the Schism that brings forth the Order of the Gash, she fearlessly summons the Cenobites, who are astounded at her willingness to trade her humanity for infernal, eternal sensation.
Enter Sister Cilice's dominion, where puzzle boxes find a new diabolical purpose, a female rebellion rises up from the fetid air of hell and a mother of all demons is created.
Cover art by Steph Sciullo.
Cover design and internal illustrations by Adrian Baldwin.
- GenresHorror
111 pages, Paperback
Published March 5, 2024
1 person is currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
Barbie Wilde
25 books99 followersBarbie Wilde is a Canadian-born British actress and writer. She is best known for portraying the Female Cenobite in 'Hellbound: Hellraiser II'.
#1 best selling horror magazine Fangoria has called Wilde "one of the finest purveyor of erotically charged horror around".
Barbie Wilde's first dark crime novel, 'The Venus Complex', is out now and is published by Comet Press. The cover art for 'The Venus Complex' is by award-winning artist Daniele Serra.
A collection of Wilde's short horror stories, entitled Voices of the Damned, will be published by SST on Halloween 2015. Nine stories have been previously published in anthos and Gorezone, two are new to the collection. Each story has been illustrated by some of the top artists of the genre and Clive Barker himself has contributed three artworks to the collection.
Wilde's well-received short horror stories include:
Sister Cilice for the Hellbound Hearts anthology (Pocket Books 2009)
U for Uranophobia [AKA Gaia] (Phobophobia, Dark Continents 2011)
American Mutant: Hands of Dominion (Mutation Nation: Tales of Genetic Mishaps, Monsters, and Madness, Rainstorm Press 2011)
Polyp (The Mammoth Book of Body Horror, Constable & Robinson 2012, reprinted in The Unspoken 2013)
A is for Alpdruck (The Demonologia Biblica, (Western Legends Press 2013)
Z is for Zulu Zombies (Bestarium Vocabulum, Western Legends Press 2013, reprinted in Fangoria's Gorezone 2014)
Botophobia (Phobophobias, Western Legends 2014)
W is for Writer's Block (Grimorium Verum, Western Legends December 2014)
Crime Stories:
Mr Duggins' Stigmata (Noir Nation No. 5 2014)
Beauty and the Skell: A Noir Fable (Noir Nation)
Reviews for The Venus Complex:
"Barbie Wilde – best known to the horror community as The Female Cenobite from Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 – has crafted a serial killer story every bit as warped as Level 26, as exacting as Harris’s “Hannibal” series and more sexually adventurous than Fifty f***ing Shades of Gray could ever hope to be." -Brutal As Hell
"But I think what I like most about this news story is that she kicked my ass so hard with her first novel. Turns out Barbie Wilde is even scarier than we thought. And that is a terrible, beautiful thing."
- New York Times bestselling author John Skipp, Fangoria Online
"A novel by a female Cenobite that gives the world a smart, artistic, cynical, cultured serial killer who could give Hannibal Lecter a run for his money. On top of that, this is a poignant, funny, sexually-charged, hardcore critique of popular culture and a deconstruction of relationships, academia, and art."
- Gabino Iglesias, HorrorTalk's Top Books of the Year
"The book has been garnering great reviews, firmly confirming the literary course that is now defining Wilde's life. Damaged people, ultraviolence, murder and explicit sex - what's not to love about her work?"
- Chris Alexander, Editor-in-Chief, Fangoria Magazine, Issue #321
"Read the damn book. Watch every moview the lady's been in, read every antho in which this woman's appeared. Fall in love with tainted love and fight the frightfuls, The Venus Complex is, in every sense of the word, the real thing."
- Garrett Cook, The Imperial Youth Review
#1 best selling horror magazine Fangoria has called Wilde "one of the finest purveyor of erotically charged horror around".
Barbie Wilde's first dark crime novel, 'The Venus Complex', is out now and is published by Comet Press. The cover art for 'The Venus Complex' is by award-winning artist Daniele Serra.
A collection of Wilde's short horror stories, entitled Voices of the Damned, will be published by SST on Halloween 2015. Nine stories have been previously published in anthos and Gorezone, two are new to the collection. Each story has been illustrated by some of the top artists of the genre and Clive Barker himself has contributed three artworks to the collection.
Wilde's well-received short horror stories include:
Sister Cilice for the Hellbound Hearts anthology (Pocket Books 2009)
U for Uranophobia [AKA Gaia] (Phobophobia, Dark Continents 2011)
American Mutant: Hands of Dominion (Mutation Nation: Tales of Genetic Mishaps, Monsters, and Madness, Rainstorm Press 2011)
Polyp (The Mammoth Book of Body Horror, Constable & Robinson 2012, reprinted in The Unspoken 2013)
A is for Alpdruck (The Demonologia Biblica, (Western Legends Press 2013)
Z is for Zulu Zombies (Bestarium Vocabulum, Western Legends Press 2013, reprinted in Fangoria's Gorezone 2014)
Botophobia (Phobophobias, Western Legends 2014)
W is for Writer's Block (Grimorium Verum, Western Legends December 2014)
Crime Stories:
Mr Duggins' Stigmata (Noir Nation No. 5 2014)
Beauty and the Skell: A Noir Fable (Noir Nation)
Reviews for The Venus Complex:
"Barbie Wilde – best known to the horror community as The Female Cenobite from Hellbound: Hellraiser 2 – has crafted a serial killer story every bit as warped as Level 26, as exacting as Harris’s “Hannibal” series and more sexually adventurous than Fifty f***ing Shades of Gray could ever hope to be." -Brutal As Hell
"But I think what I like most about this news story is that she kicked my ass so hard with her first novel. Turns out Barbie Wilde is even scarier than we thought. And that is a terrible, beautiful thing."
- New York Times bestselling author John Skipp, Fangoria Online
"A novel by a female Cenobite that gives the world a smart, artistic, cynical, cultured serial killer who could give Hannibal Lecter a run for his money. On top of that, this is a poignant, funny, sexually-charged, hardcore critique of popular culture and a deconstruction of relationships, academia, and art."
- Gabino Iglesias, HorrorTalk's Top Books of the Year
"The book has been garnering great reviews, firmly confirming the literary course that is now defining Wilde's life. Damaged people, ultraviolence, murder and explicit sex - what's not to love about her work?"
- Chris Alexander, Editor-in-Chief, Fangoria Magazine, Issue #321
"Read the damn book. Watch every moview the lady's been in, read every antho in which this woman's appeared. Fall in love with tainted love and fight the frightfuls, The Venus Complex is, in every sense of the word, the real thing."
- Garrett Cook, The Imperial Youth Review
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 8, 2024
When I learned the female Cenobite in Hellraiser 2 wrote horror fiction, I scrambled to buy this book. This focuses on Sister Cilice's journey as a nun with dark desires and her evolution as a purveyor of pain/pleasure. Great concept, beautiful prose reminiscent of Barker, and stories that will stay with you long after you finish them. I sincerely believe Wilde would be a juggernaut in the horror community if she was more prolific.
April 26, 2024
You would think that a book written by the actress who played the Female Cenobite from Hellraiser 2: Hellbound would be great. Well, you'd be unsurprised to learn that's precisely what this is, and it has indeed a great, fun release.
Barbie Wilde embraces the sexuality in the Hellraiser mythos, and does so with a glee that is infectious. Yes, this is horror done well, but there's a sensuality in the work which absolutely keeps the intention of Clive Barker's original mythos..
Essentially, the Quadra is the story of the Female Cenobite, from her beginnings as a French nun to...well, spoilers...
Barbie Wilde explores the character deeply, offering us an understanding of what she gave to her portrayal of the Female Cenobite all those years ago. We have her motivation and reason for submitting to the machinations of Leviathan, and her further ambitions once she gets there. The stories are immediately engaging, nicely written.
My only issue here is that there is a lot of meat left on the bone. Each story involved here could easily be a novella, exploring the character further and revealing her relationship with the hierarchy of Hell.
But then, isn't the whole thing about the dangers of wanting more?
Barbie Wilde embraces the sexuality in the Hellraiser mythos, and does so with a glee that is infectious. Yes, this is horror done well, but there's a sensuality in the work which absolutely keeps the intention of Clive Barker's original mythos..
Essentially, the Quadra is the story of the Female Cenobite, from her beginnings as a French nun to...well, spoilers...
Barbie Wilde explores the character deeply, offering us an understanding of what she gave to her portrayal of the Female Cenobite all those years ago. We have her motivation and reason for submitting to the machinations of Leviathan, and her further ambitions once she gets there. The stories are immediately engaging, nicely written.
My only issue here is that there is a lot of meat left on the bone. Each story involved here could easily be a novella, exploring the character further and revealing her relationship with the hierarchy of Hell.
But then, isn't the whole thing about the dangers of wanting more?
September 23, 2025
Gruesome erotic horror from the cenobite queen herself.
August 26, 2025
The good Sister's adoration for mutilation, sensation and agony would be legendary, even in Hell.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews