No comments about Being Music.

No comments about Days of Magic, Nights of War (The Abarat fantasy series, Book 2 ).

No comments about Im Bergland: Agonie der Städte.

5 comments about Coldheart Canyon CD: A Hollywood Ghost Story.

1. "Coldheart Canyon", along with "Mister B. Gone" and a few of his other works, are probably considered Clive Barker's weakest works among his fans. For instance, the scathing 1-star review on the main page of this book appears to be written by a Barker fan. I however, care to disagree.
   
   "Coldheart Canyon" is simply a masterpiece. I loved every second of this book - and to testify to this, I finished the mammoth 700 page volume in a solid four days. It is fun, it is entertaining, it is thought-provoking - but most of all, and also ironically (if you know the plot of the book) - this book is addicting.
   
   Yes, addicting - much like the Devil's Country, and just like Todd Pickett and Katya Lupi's addiction to fame and beauty. This book is addicting. The characters are believable. Some of them are intriguing, arousing and astonishing (Katya and her accomplice, Zeffer), some of them are very human and very real (our hero, Todd Pickett, Maxine, Tammy, Arnie, etc), some of them are sheer comic riot (Eppstadt, Brahms), and some are downright terrifying (Duke Goga, Lillith, Qwaftzefoni).
   
   This book is a versatile, read as well. Versatily is perhaps a strange adjective to use for a novel, but this novel truly is. In the chapter about Todd's dog, Dempsey - I shed tears, as I did during the last segment with Todd and the Angel. In the bits about the ghosts, and the chases throughout the Devil's Country - I was terrified. I laughed, I cried, I threw the book at the wall in sheer anger (*SPOILER ALERT* - I was pissed because I wanted Todd to stay with Katya.)
   
   This book is fantastic. It invents it's own mythology; it is a myth unto itself. Clive Barker is genius, but he really out-does himself here.
   
   More semi-spoilers:
   I could find no gripes with the book. Some people, like a review here, don't understand why the people were "addicted" to Devil's Country - but it was spelled out pretty plainly: it either terrified you, or you fell in love with it - and never wanted to break away from it's gorgeous hold on your soul, or it's rejuvinating effects. In fact, I remember Barker clearly devoting a few pages to explaining that once you had stepped inside the Devil's Country, nothing was the same in reality after. This clearly explains the addictions.
   
   This is a work of genius. If you are looking for an epic book that will entertain you on every page, this is the book to get.



2. Todd Picket cancels his appointment with Burrows because his dog gets sick. Then after Dempsey(the dog) dies Todd calls Eppstadt and asks him for Burrow's phone number to make an appointment because it is not in the phone book! Well,something wrong with this picture! Clive Barker is a wonderful writer and such goofs happen to everyone but where was an editor?!



3. Willem Zeffer manages the career of silent film star Katya Lupescu who sadistically took pleasure from others. While in Romania, Willem buys painted tiles from a medieval monastery that graphically show bizarre sexual encounters. He brings them to Hollywood though he is unable to explain to himself let alone his wife why he had to buy the erotic artwork. However, he has them placed inside of Katya's Coldheart Canyon mansion; which leads to a who's who of the silent film era coming to her home ostensibly to see the queen of frozen sadism, but deep down each knows they visit to admire the sexual arousing masterpieces.
   
   Six decades since a bewildered Willem brought the tiles to California, movie star Todd Pickett recovers from slipshod cosmetic surgery at Coldheart Canyon mansion. At the same time he wallows in self pity, the president of a Todd fan club, unhappily married Tammy Lauper, decides to visit her recuperating hero to help him heal. Still visiting the mansion are the ghosts of Hollywood legends and wannabes who came to see the artwork of the Queen of Hell condemning a hunter to sexually depravity that gripped each of them when they were alive and continues its fascination well passed their death, a hellish time on earth.
   
   This is a fascinating dark Hollywood ghost story that also pays homage to the legends of the silver screen. The story line is fast-paced and gripping though not particularly as frightening as some of Clive Barker's previous works. Fans will enjoy Mr. Barker turning Jacqueline Susan and the spirit of Harold Robbins on their respective heads as they are just two of the ghosts of Hollywood residing at Coldheart Canyon.
   
   Harriet Klausner



4. Good book. I hadn't read Barker in a few years, but this book was really good. I will gladly recommend this book.



5. This was the first Clive Barker novel I have read. I got the title from a list of scary ghost stories. I can not complain too much about a book that is almost 700 pages and I read in three days. It was entertaining and interesting, just not scary. I was hoping for a good ghost story that might make me check under the bed, but did not get it. Not a bad book, just not scary.

1 comments about Abarat.

1. This is young adult fiction ay it's finest. Harry Potter eat your heart out. A fantasy world to rival Wonderland. All the things that go bump in the night and beautiful exotic creatures of the light.

5 comments about Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War.

1. The two books of Abarat are fun to escape into. The names and situations are goofy at times, but still make you want to read on to finish the story. This has lead me to read more of Clive Barker. The Great Secret Show and Coldheart Canyon, I am in the middle of Weaveworld. I have found no matter the earlier his works or the newer attempts are equally entertaining. There is some shock value, but is that not the reason for delving into this genre of books. Praise to such talent.



2. Well, you have to have read the first one to really sink your teeth in this one. Oh, were do I start. The story is fabulous and builds so much on what was gleaned in the first book. There's lots of intrigue and little subplots. Ooh, this book just packs a wallop of a story. The pictures are amazing and just draw you into the world of Abarat. You've just got to read this book to believe it. Warning the ending will have to begging Clive Barker to produce the third. Highly, recommended!!!!



3. Candy Quackenbush, Christopher Carrion, Wolfswinkel, Mater Motley, Malingo, John Mischief and his brothers, and other characters from the first book of Abarat, together with Finnegan Hob, Geneva Peachtree, and other new characters bring Abarat, the islands of the twenty five hours to life.
   
   Clive Barker has created a rich, vibrant world just across the sea of Izabella from our own. A day away, or unreachable, Abarat of infinite possibility and variety is in the middle of a war between Night and Day, and Candy Quackenbush is so close to the center of the fight that she can't see the scope of it. The old characters are developed far beyond expectations set in the first book, and the new ones compliment the old characters while raising questions and introducing new depths to this story and world.
   
   Powerful imagery, quick paced story, and characters who draw you into their world work together to make this book a brilliant achievement from a master of literature. What makes this especially remarkable is that this is the second book of what has been pitched as a trilogy. Normally, the 'middle' books are not up to the standard of the first or last. "Days of Magic, Nights of War" escapes this sterotype, and only fans the flames of desire for the conclusion.
   
   The sequel can't come soon enough.
   
   E.M. Van Court



4. 
   Great book - great service from Amazon. Wish Clive Barker would write another in the series!



5. "Days of Magic, Nights of War" picks up immediately where the first volume left off, which is a good thing for anyone who's followed the series. "Abarat" is an excellent young adult novel; "Days of Magic, Nights of War" manages to be even better: richer in detail, characters, background, and plot--and even more exciting--this novel is rare in that it stands perfectly on its own. You don't have to read the first one to understand the second perfectly.
   "Abarat" follows the adventures of Candy Quackenbush, a seemingly normal teenage girl who is accidentally swept away from her world, into a magical archipelago known as the Abarat, where time is not time at all, but a place, or rather, places: each island inhabits one of the hours on the clock. For instance, there is Gorgossium, which stands at the hour of midnight; the Nonce, which is three in the afternoon; and Scoriae, which stands at seven in the evening. The first novel chronicles her initial discovery of the Abarat; her first encounter with her best friend, Malingo; her fight against Christopher Carrion, the Lord of Gorgossium, whose dearest ambition is to vanquish all the magic and goodness in the Abarat--already flagging severely--and replace everything with a permanent midnight, over which he will rule supreme.
   All of this is established in the first novel, yet it is woven seamlessly through this second one. In the second one, Christopher Carrion, intrigued by Candy and hating her for it, sends assassins after her, tracks her, and in the end pursues her himself--all the while preparing for the day of Absolute Midnight.
   Candy, meanwhile, is discovering that she is NOT an ordinary girl; for one thing, she is a powerful incantatrix (spell-sayer) and, oddly, remembers things from the Abarat, things she has never even seen. While running from Carrion, she darts all over the islands, dodging the Lord of midnight while trying to save the Abarat, and unraveling the mystery of just who she is. If she and her companions are to save the Abarat from Christopher Carrion, she must know who she is, for she is irrevocably tied to the Abarat's fate.
   The second installment of Barker's saga is beautifully written and imagined. It's not flawless--Barker's writing can drag a little--but it's still beautiful, from style to character to plot and all in between and beyond. Personally, I was disappointed on this score: in the first volume, Barker sets the stage for SOMETHING between Candy and young, slightly sinister entrepeneurial genius Rojo Pixler, but there is no mention of him in this novel. Pixler, even if he's not precisely evil, is dangerous. Carrion wants to plunge the Abarat into absolute midnight; Pixler may not want destruction, but he wants to destroy the heart of the Abarat just the same by plumbing all of its magic and mysteries and putting them up for sale--for his own benefit. Even in their clash or confrontation or whatever it is didn't happen in this book, to exlcude even a mention of him when he's obviously important is a literary misstep.
   However, that's a relatively minor complaint--in fact, that and the very occasional flatness of Barker's generally incredible writing are the only complaints, certainly nothing that would have kept me from buying the book if I'd known. I'd reccommend it to any fantasy fan, and most people in general. But beware: this book has creepy imagery, both in the form of Barker's drawings, and in the descriptions and actions of characters. The horror of the stitchlings and the sacbrood, and definitely the sadism of Mater Motley, Christophert Carrion, and even Admiral Bloat are above most younger readers. Even Letheo's physical and psychological suffering at the hands of Christopher Carrion are causes for pause, if not censorship. Anyone 12 and older can handle this book without a problem. Most 9-11 year olds will be able to as well, and even younger readers capable of this material should be all right in most cases. Still--just in case, if you have any doubts--review it, because even though it's amazing, it's amazing at least in part because of the contrast between goodness and horror.
   All in all, this novel was excellent, and I do reccommend it.

5 comments about Mister B. Gone Low Price CD.

1. I bought this book at a clearance at Walden Books, and saw that the book looked extremely nice with the old looking pages and the crusty cover. The book is horrible though. I thought the whole concept of a book talking to you would be cool, but the whole plot is just plain horrible. I tried to get somewhere with it, but could not get myself to read any more of it. I do not recommend it at all!!!



2. I liked this one much more than I expected to. Clive Barker certainly has a weird imagination but he uses it to tell a good story. This is probably not for everyone but I was glad I read it.



3. i've been reading clive barker's books off and on since i was in high school (the original u.s. paperbacks of the books of blood with the creepy covers) and some twenty years later i thought of giving this one a try. i think it's easy for many to dismiss barker as a simple genre writer for things like the books of blood and hellraiser but make no mistake, barker is a writer of the highest order. once i started the book i was completely taken in until the ending. everything about it worked for me but i do see that that is not the case for everyone offering their reviews. for those curious i simply say what have you got to lose?



4. It's probably the most unique fiction book I've ever read. It starts off sort of slow and strange, but in the last 2/3 it's hard to put down, and everything starts coming together quickly. From cover to cover, the whole book is a real trip!



5. While I consider myself a huge fan of Clive Barker and his creations (novels and art), I can't say that this book ranks too highly on that list. It was missing a lot of the magic usually found in his worlds.
   
   The story is about a demon named Jakabok Botch who is trapped in the book being read. He is somehow stuck and wants you to burn the book to set him free. While a cool way to start and catch me as the reader, I did get tired of being asked to burn the book. It quickly became repetitive and lost it's cleverness. The demon's story of how he was pulled out of Hell, complete with Dante's vision of multiple circles, and then how the outside world viewed the demon were both cool ideas. But they weren't carried through in a way that kept me past the idea. No fantastical visions or world descriptions as in Imajica or Weaveworld. No strong characterizations to pull me in and make me care about what happens next. About the only thing that kept me reading was the curiosity of how Jakabok was trapped in the book. The how was good but the journey to get there wasn't.
   
   The novel wasn't horrible and will still be read by most existing Barker fans. I'm afraid though that he won't be creating too many new fans based on this book.