The Books of Blood, Volume 1

By: Clive Barker

Narrated by: Simon Vance, Dick Hill, Peter Berkrot, Jeffrey Kafer, Chet Williamson, Chris Patton

Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

The Books of Blood combine the ordinary with the extraordinary while radiating the eroticism that has become Barker's signature. Weaving tales of the everyday world transformed into an unrecognizable place, where reason no longer exists and logic ceases to explain the workings of the universe, Clive Barker provides the stuff of nightmares in packages too tantalizing to resist.

Never one to shy away from the unimaginable or the unspeakable, Clive Barker breathes life into our deepest, darkest nightmares, creating visions that are at once terrifying, tender, and witty.

The Books of Blood confirm what horror fans everywhere have known for a long time: We will be hearing from Clive Barker for many years to come. This first volume contains the short stories : "The Book of Blood," "The Midnight Meat Train," "The Yattering and Jack," "Sex, Death, and Starshine," and "In the Hills, the Cities."

©1984 Seraphim Films (P)2013 David N. Wilson

Good Books except In the hills, the cities

Overall the books within this book were interesting and written well. The last book In the Hills, the Cities has to be the dumbest book I’ve listened to. I don’t know if the book was symbolic or just used metaphors but it was dumb and super hard to get through. I can usually make my way through even the worst of stories but this one topped them all and I just wanted it to end.

A solid collection of skin crawling stories

This was a fun little read. Some of the stories were excellent. Some just good, but they all showed the kind of depraved creativity that separates the true horror pros from the amateurs. A nice mix of atmosphere horror and some gore.

consistently great

Barker's work is great as always. some really great gems in this book. hope they do another books of blood movie.

Clive Barker has skills.

This is a seriously good short story anthology tied together in an interesting way. Barker shows a unique versatility and comes up with truly imaginative stuff.
The narrators were well selected and really deliver. I can't wait to listen to the other Books of Blood.

Great set of stories.

Intro: psychedelic and gripping

Midnight Meat Train: Meh. The movie was actually better.

The Yattering: A fun dose of comedy and chaos.

Pig Blood Blues: A bit overplayed in its mystery dynamic. Ex cop doesn't fit in trope. Still managed to be fun and disturbing.

Sex, Death, and Starlight: Its whole own little thing. Kinda boring.

In the Hills, the Cities: Oh my God, what an awesome story. Simply incredible.

Some good stories with great narration.

Most of the stories in this anthology are really good. Some may not be to everyone's liking though. Regardless of liking all the stories or not, thevwriting is impeccable and the author is a legend! The narration is phenomenal. They used a different narrator for each story and every narrator is worth five stars in their own right!

Good Surreal Horror!

Although in certain stories a bit over the top fantastical, I still enjoyed this collection immensely.

wrong voice actor for this book

The orator isn't without talent, but he would be better suited for a classic detective novel than for The Books of Blood.
Does Audible not do a screening to determine which orators are suited for which books?
If not, perhaps that is something that should be standard procedure.

Golden Source Material, Spotty Performance

These short stories form a core backbone of classic 1980's horror, from a decade when horror was visceral and real in a way that can only be crudely aped in the post-internet, post-cgi world of social media and smartphones. Anyone who wants a true taste of subversive and dark goth-style lit should gorge upon the decadent and dissolute feast that is Clive Barker.

My only complaint that is that the voice acting, while solid, could have been better. Some of the actors just don't capture the languid, jaded but earnest, aloof but incisive voice that I can hear in the words of Clive Barker...both sensitive and bleak, blunt, crass even, yet nuanced and introspective with emotion and carnal desires and disgusts. The voice actors did their best, I suppose. It's a tall order to serve up the nuances of emotion that Clive Barker's writing demands. Only the dead, acting life, could possibly achieve it!

Amazing

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Gruesome and amazing. I love horror stories and I couldnt stop listening, since the begining and all the stories that follow are fantastic and altough yon know they are not new, they ar really scary I had to change the genre just have a breath!

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Books of Blood, Volume 1?

The first part ant the writing of the book

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The narrative and the fact they werw different readers

Who was the most memorable character of The Books of Blood, Volume 1 and why?

Kauffman, Jack and the yattering

Any additional comments?

Read it and get scared