The story retains the gory, visceral style Barker introduced in his anthology series The Books of Blood.įrank Cotton is a hedonistic criminal selfishly devoted to sensual experience even if it harms others. The original novella was re-released as a standalone title by HarperPaperbacks in 1991, after the success of the first film, along with an audiobook recorded by Clive Barker and published by Simon & Schuster Audioworks in 1988. This character appeared in later Barker prose with the official names 'the Hell Priest' and 'the Cold Man'. One Cenobite in particular, nameless in the original novella but nicknamed ' Pinhead' by the production crew and fans, became a popular villain among horror movie fans. Later on, the puzzle box is found by another.Īlong with introducing Barker's Cenobites, the story was the basis for the 1987 film Hellraiser (written and directed by Barker) and its franchise. He escapes the Cenobites and, with help, resorts to murder to restore himself to full life. The story features a hedonist criminal acquiring a mystical puzzle box, the Lemarchand Configuration, which can be used to summon the Cenobites, demonic beings who do not distinguish between pain and pleasure. The Hellbound Heart is a horror novella by Clive Barker, first published in November 1986 by Dark Harvest in the third volume of its Night Visions anthology series. 'Clive Barker assaults our senses and our psyche, seeking not so much to tingle our spine as to snap it altogether.November 1986, Dark Harvest, HarperPaperbacks He creates a world where our biggest fears appear to be our own dreams.'- Boston Herald 'Mixing elements of horror, science fiction and surrealist literature, Barker's work reads like a cross between Stephen King and South American novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

'Barker's eye is unblinking he drags out our terrors from the shadows and forces us to look upon them and despair or laugh with relief.'- The Washington Post

'Barker's dark, powerful imagination-and his skill in pacing to keep stories surprising-make the horror grisly and effective.'- People Some of the stories were so creepily awful that I literally could not read them alone others go up and over the edge and into gruesome territory.He's an original.'-Stephen King 'He scares even me.What Barker does in the Books of Blood makes the rest of us look like we've been asleep for the last ten years. 'Our most accomplished purveyor of horror fiction.'- The New York Times Book Review

Books of blood volume iii clive barker