Clive Barker's Books of Blood 3

I have now read the "Books of Blood 1-3" and although I enjoyed a few of the stories in #1, I felt that #2 was lacking and struggled to finish it. This third installment is by far the best of the 3 in that it has the largest number of high quality stories. 1 - Son of Celluloid - I wasn't a huge fan of this one, a murderer's cancer comes to life after his death in the back of a movie theater and takes on the persona of the films that cross the screen. 2 - Rawhead Rex - The basis of the film by the same name, this story had a lot of potential to have been a novella. I would have loved to have had more background and more indepth information in this story. As a short story it was violent, brutal and left the reader wanting more... very good 3 - Confessions of a (Pornographer's) Shroud - peculiar revenge after death story. At first I didn't think I would like this one, but by the end it was pretty good. Not the strongest in the book but still and entertaining read. 4 - Scape-Goats - shipwrecked on an island build from the corpses of the dead, a young group of friends tries to survive what they cannot understand. This was another story that could have been made into a novella, I enjoyed it, but would have liked more background, more meat, more story. Again a very good read. 5 - Human Remains - the horror of vanity brought to life, what would you do to have your beauty remain forever? Would you be willing to give up your soul? The main character in this one was a huge turnoff to me, but it was still a strange and engaging story. On the whole this is my favorite of the first 3 books of blood, highly recommended to lovers of short horror stories.

Clive Barker did not want his Books of Blood broken up into individual volumes when they were published, yet that is what happened. Now, the first three volumes are available in one book, serving as the perfect introduction to Barker's unique style of horror. There are some really groundbreaking stories included here, alongside of a dud or two from Volume Two, but each and every story exhibits the genius and originality of its author's dark vision.The initial offering, The Book of Blood, stands out as a unique ghost story, but it also serves as a provocative abstract for everything Barker sought to accomplish with these stories. After this enticing introductory tale, we head below the streets of New York to sneak a ride on The Midnight Meat Train. This story is vintage Clive Barker, full of blood and gore. Barker isn't trying to drown the reader in blood as a means to hide any lack of skill on his part, though, because the skill is undeniably there for all to see. In The Yattering and Jack, a dark comedy farce, a poor demon does everything he can think of to make the unshakeable Jack miserable, driving himself almost mad in the process. I think of The Yattering and Jack as an amusing sort of Barker bedtime story. Pig Blood Blues forces the casual reader to once again don hip hugger boots for a trek into gore and depravity. At a certain school for wayward boys, the other white meat is not pork. Sex, Death and Starshine is a good story, touching upon the needs of the dead to be entertained every once in a while, but it lacks a certain oomph. Dread is a somewhat sadistic tale of one man's obsession with death. His is a hands-on endeavor, as he seeks to look the beast directly in the eye by studying the effects of dread and the realization of imminent death in the eyes of his fellow man. Dread is a psychologically disturbing read, one which succeeds quite well indeed in spite of a rather pat ending. Hell's Event tells the story of a charity race, only this particular contest pits a minion of the underworld against human runners, with the control of the very government hinging upon the outcome. Next up is Jacqueline Ess: Her Last Will and Testament, a disappointing story in which the main character's special abilities to control the things and people around her wind up wasted. The Skins of the Fathers is not a bad story, but it is quite weird. A sometimes almost comical group of inhuman, bizarre creatures comes to a small desert town to reclaim one of their own, born five years earlier to a human mother. A puffed up sheriff and belligerent posse of townsfolk lend comic relief as much as tension to the story's plot of borderline absurdity. I love the unusual premise and the surreal quality of Son of Celluloid. The back wall behind the screen of an old movie theatre has seen so many famous lives projected upon it that the essence of those screen legends has germinated within it. The only thing needed to bring the screen personalitie

Clive Barker is all business in his Books of Blood Volume Three, and that business is sex and violence. There is no stray dark comedy piece along the lines of Volume One's The Yattering and Jack to be found in these pages. These five stories take us to realms of pain and bloody death, sometimes pushing the envelope on the new kind of dark horror Barker helped pioneer. Son of Celluloid is by far my favorite of these stories. I love the unusual premise and the surreal quality of the piece. Basically, the back wall behind the screen of an old movie theatre has seen so many famous lives projected upon it that somehow the essence of those screen legends has germinated within its neglected existence. The only thing needed to bring the screen personalities to life is a catalyst, which comes in the form of a dying criminal. The man himself is of no consequence, but he has within him a force with ambition and a single-minded drive to grow and thrive. This driving force is cancer, and I find Barker's unusual appraisal of the silent killer to be a fascinating one. Next up is Rawhead Rex, one of Barker's more violent stories. There are creatures that thrived on earth long before man helped force them to the brink of extinction, and things get pretty gruesome when one fellow unknowingly unseals the prison in which such a monster has been sealed for eons. Murder of a more human (albeit post-human) kind rests at the heart of Confessions of a (Pornographer's) Shroud. This tale doesn't succeed completely in my estimation, and some might even find it oddly laughable, as the main character is an amorphous blob of a dead man's essence who reconstitutes the form of his human body in his own death shroud. Scape-Goats is a little island of death story, the most interesting aspect of which is its viewpoint; it is not often that Barker tells a tale from the first-person perspective of a woman. The final story, Human Remains, offers Barker's typically unusual slant on the old doppelganger motif.All in all, this is a fine collection of stories. Son of Celluloid borders on greatness, Rawhead Rex helps sate the appetites of those seeking blood and gore, and the three accompanying pieces are more than capable of holding one's interest if not fascination from start to finish. This third volume, unlike its immediate predecessor, stands as a most worthy successor indeed to the genius displayed in Clive Barker's Books of Blood Volume One.

As one person who wrote a review for this, I am an avid horror reader. But, unlike that same person, I love this book. Chilling, though-provoking, and yes, even a little bit funny. These tales really get in under your skin, literally! I liked most of the stories, but some where not good. I shall now tell you about my favorite tales."The Book of Blood": A man opens the highway, and in doing so, gets these stories engraved on his skin. Pretty wicked."The Midnight Meat Train": A newcomer in New York. A man who kills on the subway for a higher power. Guess what happens? They meet(no pun intended). One of his grosser tales, with VERY VIVID descripitions(spelled it wrong, I think). The first story I read."The Yattering and Jack": A funnier story, with little gore. The Yattering(a demon) is assigned the least caring man in the world. The turkey scene is a classic!"Pig Blood Blues": A boy hangs himself in a barn, and still lingers about... Not his best story. the fact that they are putting it in the Books of Blood movie disgusts me. Still, pretty bloody."In the Hills, the Cities": Cities join in an old battle. Two, um, "lovers" see the battle. Quite possibly the bloodiest, not goriest, tale in the book. The first story by Barker I EVER read."The Skins of the Fathers": Demons. Mountain town. Nuff said. Pretty cool, with lotsa cool monsters."Jaqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament": A women can do things to men with her mind. Very erotic ending. Also, the man into women scene is not to be skimmed!"Rawhead Rex": An old monster gets loose in a village. The best monster story ever made! Half of the stories in the book! I would describe the other stories, but that would be to many words.To end, I say anyone who likes Koontz, rainbows, dolls, bedtime stories, and sweet dreams, should look elswhere. But if you like King, lightning, gory tales, and nightmares, read this! It will keep you up all night!

This was a great book. Full of gore, humor and an intensity which makes you want to keep going. (Too bad the book is only about 400 pages though)I have personally read the first two volumes of the "Books of Blood" and think the first one is the best. This particular volume follows suit to Barker's previous books, but is kinda of the same hack, dice, slice, squash, eat, destroy material that we have read in previous volumes. Barker is delightfully disgusting all the way through the novel in both detail and imagery. However I thought "Confession of a (Pornographer's) Shroud" was an excellent tail of venegeance on the author's behalf.All in all, if you in enjoyed the series already I would recommend this book to complete the collection. If you HAVEN'T read the other two novellas then I would recommend the first volume over this one. In any case, you will get your money's worth.