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

Everyone's a Book of Blood

What did you love best about The Books of Blood, Volume 1?

I've been reading Barker and collecting his stuff since the late 80s. He's the great imaginer of our time. These first stories, raw, powerful and shocking at the time ushered in a brand new understanding of the politics of horror. No longer were we talking about the outside threats, the aliens, the monsters, we were facing our own inner demons, we were the monsters, and Clive Barker really understood that long before the rest. The human monster is the most frightening of all. And these stories, from the Midnight Meat Train rattling beneath NYC to the unhappy demonic Yattering trying to do the job he hates, the visceral nature of Pigs Blood Blues, Sex Death and Starshine... brilliant... but truly the gem, the story that assures Barker's legacy is that final one, In the Hills, The Cities... which is quite possibly one of the best stories of fantasy-horror ever written.

I mostly liked these... I LOVED the last story!

Clive Barker delivers a solid anthology.

The voice actors are fantastic!

“In the Hills, the Cities” is unlike anything I've ever imagined... worth it for this story, alone!

WICKED !

Mr Barker has delivered yet again another masterpiece of Science fiction/ Horror.
Books of Blood #1 was great.
can't wait to read the rest.

PHENOMENAL

In the Hills, the Cities is one of the best short stories ever written. Obviously in my opinion.

Pure brilliance!

The stories themselves are interesting and emotionally touching. Of course we get the Clive Barker mood with it's suspence, horror and gore. Anyone who calls himself/herself a horror fan must experience "The Books Of Blood".

Throw Ration and Reason out the window!

Any additional comments?

After listening to these stories I went on an aggressive search for everything that Clive Barker had released through Audible. He is a Master Story teller. I still have his stories in my head! Life is so full of the everyday... Barker knows how to take you away. But who knows where he is going to take you. AWESOME.

It’s nothing special.

I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and I am not even sure what it was here that didn’t wow me. I can’t entirely put my finger on it. It’s horror but I was mostly bored with it never really cared about what would happen next. They were just filler that I will not remember. The last story had a monster made out of thousands of people. In my head I just couldn’t get over that they strategically trained to be part of this massive thing that would just crush and kill everyone. There’s just lots of stuff happening, and little reason or explanation in my opinion.

Narrators for me have to be terrible to hurt a story, thought they were all good enough.

Riveting and Bone-Chilling!

Quite possibly the scariest audiobook I have ever listened too! From the author who brought us the "Hell Raiser" movies, I should have known this would be a riveting, bone-chilling experience. No one can write horror like Clive Barker with his twists and turns, and mind-bending exploits into the dark side of humanity. This collection of short stories is certainly not for the faint of heart! I'm not typically a fan of a lot of "gore" but with Barker's stories it's inevitable and it works fantastically to his advantage. Each of these stories left me in absolute awe....and yes, rather afraid of the dark. I quickly learned that these were not the stories to listen to before going to bed. But, they were incredible nonetheless. The narrators all performed outstandingly and to choose one favorite over the others would be a grave injustice. Each narrator had a unique, eerie quality that only enhanced Barker's writing and brought it to life. My initial impression was that the narration had a "Twilight Zone" appeal to it but then quickly stepped beyond and into something much darker and much more sinister. As an audiobook, this was an astounding performance of stories that I would highly recommend to fans of Horror Fiction, and particularly fans of Clive Barker. Very well done....FIVE stars!

Finally!

What made the experience of listening to The Books of Blood, Volume 1 the most enjoyable?

Some of Barker's best early stories are in this volume. The narrators are strong and the tales still pack a great punch. The introductions mentioned in the description, however, are nowhere to be found. Just the stories.

Collecting the first three Books of Blood into one full audio book may have been a better idea, but it's a fair price for a half-dozen stories of this quality. "Midnight Meat Train" is a classic, but the final story in V1 is something truly special.

Naw...

It, in my humble opinion, was awful. Stupid. 7th grade stuff...
It was a mistake.

Visceral, grisly horror classic

I first read the Books of Blood at 18, and was immediately struck by Clive Barker's incredible talent and imagination for the horror genre. Many of the stories, about an hour or so in length, have since become classics, and a few have been adapted for film - The Forbidden, the basis of the Candyman franchise, and the Midnight Meat Train for example. Even knowing what to expect I was struck again and again while listening to the dizzying breadth of Barker's imagination - the Dante-esque visions of hell, the faustian comedy of the Yattering and Jack, the giants made of men - and how well it integrates with the realities of everyday experience.
The performance is very good - none of the narrators give anything less than an excellent reading, and the narration never impacts negatively on the story, which is more or less all I look for in a performance. I was very pleased with this.
It's a must listen for horror fans. Just be warned, the stories often involve extremely graphic violent and sexual content. Hopefully the other 4 books in the collection will join volumes 1 and 2 on Audible shortly.

Classic Clive Barker

A good collection of short stories. I purchased this collection a good few years ago as a paper book. Loving hearing them again.

Essential reading for all fans of horror.

If you could sum up The Books of Blood, Volume 1 in three words, what would they be?

Chilling depraved and intense.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes i my blood curdled.

Any additional comments?

A very good book full of wild imagination and terrifying imagery. Clive Barker is a master of horror i had the paperback of this book and i love the cross over to audio book i will definitely be buying the other books in this series.

Great

If you could sum up The Books of Blood, Volume 1 in three words, what would they be?

Unique, grotesque, marvellous.

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

The narrator brings an eerie quality to the stories which you wouldn't experience if you had only read the book. This is especially evident when voicing the demon in "The Yattering and Jack"

Any additional comments?

I loved the surreal premise and unusual quality of the stories. Each one is completely different from the one that came before.

Horror at its finest, perfection narration

Hailed by Stephen King as "the future of horror", Clive Barker's debut collection was proof of that title then, and continues to be so now. Each tale is as groundbreaking now as it would have been upon initial release. This gathering of art-horror tales push all imagined boundaries to produce the finest short stories "genre writing" has seen. "The Midnight Meat Train" and "In the Hills; the Cities" are my two personal favourites from volume 1.

Each narrator has been perfectly selected for their respective tale, and only add to Barker's prose. I cannot recommend this collection enough.

great

really starting to love this author best to listen to with head phones tho as theres quiet a lot of sexy bits haha

Great Stories - Shame about the Narration

Fabulous horror stories - Clive Barker is a real master storyteller. The concept of the Books of Blood is set up in the first story, then the following anthology displays the author's skill and range of imagination; from the NYC subway in Midnight Meat Train, to the very British trials and tribulations in the Yattering and Jack.


I felt that some narrators let the tales down by either over exaggerated depth of feeling and expression, or badly chosen "voices" for some of the characters. It's mildly annoying - not enough to prevent me from purchasing more in the series, but annoying enough that if I could never hear those narrators again, I would pay more to do so!

chilling tales from Clive Barker

sex,blood and fantasy collide in these chilling tales from Clive Barker, Barker continues to be one of the most visceraly descriptive writers I have read, my favourite from this collection had to be "up in the hills the cities" and if you're like me you'll find yourself thinking about these stories for days

My first Barker book, and a good start!

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

Yes, its a good listen, and the narrators put in a great performance which really helps animate the stories.

What other book might you compare The Books of Blood, Volume 1 to, and why?

I'm fairly new to horror fiction, so it would have to be Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King, although some of the imagery in Barker's stuff is expectedly more otherworldly!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The last few minutes of 'The Yattering and Jack' , and the conclusion to 'The Midnight Meat Train'

Brilliant First Volume of Horror Classics

The Books of Blood are an unbelievably strong collection of stories, especially considering that these represent the first published work of Clive Barker.
There isn't a weak story in Volume 1. I like that different narrators were used for each story and I think the choices worked well.
It's been a long time since I first read these and it's been great revisiting them.
A top class collection from Crossroad Press.
Highly recommended.