What are good books to buy for a Clive Barker fan?

March 31, 2005 2:05 PM

My brother's birthday is coming up and he has worn his copy of WeaveWorld by Clive Barker into pieces from constant re-reading. I want to buy him some similar books, could you recommend some similar books he might like?

The only Barker I have read is Weaveworld, so I don't even know if it is representative of his work. The fantasy in that book was a little too surreal for my tastes, so I'm a little out of my league here in terms of finding something with similar themes and structure.

posted by Cyrie to Writing & Language (16 answers total)

If I recall, The Great and Secret Show, also by Clive Barker, had a similar feel. It has a sequel, Everville, but as I haven't read it, I can't say how it stacks up compared to Weaveworld.

Another Barker book, Imajica, also encompasses that whole "magical world hidden in the real world."
posted by bachelor#3 at 2:16 PM on March 31, 2005

Maybe Neil Gaiman's novels? Neverwhere, American Gods, and Stardust might be a good choice.
I always catagorize them together mentally, in that bizarre surrealist fantasy but not without a ton of unicorns and elves and whatnot running around.
posted by Kellydamnit at 2:24 PM on March 31, 2005

er... "but not without" should have been just "without."
posted by Kellydamnit at 2:25 PM on March 31, 2005

I second the reccomendation for Imajica. Its one of my all time favorite books.
posted by Yer-Ol-Pal at 2:26 PM on March 31, 2005

Thirded. Imajica is stunning. You might also want to look at Guy Gavriel Kay. There's no horror element, but there's luscious prose and brilliant storytelling. The Fionavar Tapestry would probably come the closest, though The Lions of Al-Rassan is my favourite.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 2:50 PM on March 31, 2005

The Chronicles of Amber is a classic.

Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy may also be of interest.
posted by showmethecalvino at 2:50 PM on March 31, 2005

I read Weaveworld just before I read Kurt Vonnegut's Bluebeard, and the similarities in themes were quite striking.
posted by mischief at 3:16 PM on March 31, 2005

Tim Powers.
posted by kindall at 3:46 PM on March 31, 2005

Most Clive Barker brings out a sense of other wordliness. The Great and Secret show was wonderful, was Everville. I also recommend Imajica, which is probably closer to Weaveworld (as mentioned above).

Don't ever, ever listen to the abridged audio book of Imajica.

Question : How can you fit a huge book into two hours of audio and retain the story?
Answer : You can't. Don't even try. What the hell are you thinking?

It was the kind of audio book where I only knew what was happening because I had read the novel, and they'd stripped out all my favourite scenes.

Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.
posted by tomble at 6:10 PM on March 31, 2005

Instead of another hack like Clive Barker, how about a real writer?
Specifically, howzabout the guy who Barker and King and all the other hacks of their ilk rip off?
That's right, the original, and still the best, Lovecraft.
posted by berek at 7:26 PM on March 31, 2005

Lovecraft is as much a hack as either King or Barker, perhaps moreso.
posted by mischief at 7:43 PM on March 31, 2005

Response by poster: Looks like Imajica is on the list, and I'll check out Stardust or some other Gaiman as well. Thanks.

I can guarantee that my brother won't read Lovecraft, and even Kay is a stretch (I'm a huge fan, however, The Sarantine Mosaic novels are my favs) - I have loaned him Kay books before. I'm not concerned about opening his eyes to good writers necessarily - my goal is to buy him something he is likely to enjoy and will read. If that means I buy a bunch of books by so-called hacks, so be it.

Sorry, I should have mentioned in my original post that quality of writer was not an issue - my brother isn't much of a reader, so I didn't want to stray too far from what I knew he already likes.
posted by Cyrie at 9:09 PM on March 31, 2005

I'll second 'The Great and Secret Show'...at least back in middle school (or whenever I read it), it was a really fun book. That said, it probably wasn't a great book, just fun.

You might consider books by Gene Wolfe. Wolfe really *is* a great writer, and can maintain a high level of mystery and suspense without the normal hackery. Maybe start where everyone else starts, with "Shadow of the Torturer".
posted by abingham at 5:13 AM on April 1, 2005

I second the Gene Wolfe recommendation. As for Barker, Imajica's really his best book, with The Great and Secret Show and Everville close behind. It goes downhill from there through--Sacrament's an interesting curiosity because it's Barker's "coming-out" book, so to speak, but after that (Galilee, and that book about the film industry whose title I can't remember), his writing gets lazy and sloppy and even more purple than usual.
posted by Prospero at 5:32 AM on April 1, 2005

His fans won't admit it, but Gene Wolfe is very much an acquired taste. Not as difficult as Lovecraft, but not a very good choice as a gift.

If you are sticking to Barker, then Imajica and The Great And Secret Show are definitely your two best choices.
posted by mischief at 6:37 AM on April 1, 2005

I second the Tim Powers recommendation. The Anubis Gates, Last Call (probably his most Barkeresque) and On Stranger Tides are all classics, lush and visceral realizations of wonderfully internally consistent semi-magical worlds.

His trademark is the alternate history plot that seamlessly fills the gaps of actual history, explaining such conundrums as why the pirate Blackbeard lit gunner's matches in his beard (to ward off the ghosts he'd been infested with, of course!), why "Bugsy" Siegel built that casino out in the middle of nowhere in the first place, or the real reason why the western world was tied in a cold war with the East for the better part of the last century.

I would also recommend Peter Straub, especially the great Shadowland, about two boys obsessed with stage magic who go on a summer vacation to an uncle who turns out to be something of a magician himself. Eerie and lyrical.

Gaiman is another good match.
posted by gentle at 11:00 AM on April 1, 2005