SOURCE: Gates, Rob. “A Bloody Sham.” Lambda Book Report 8, no. 8 (March 2000): 14-15.

In the following review, Gates praises The Essential Clive Barker and details the history of Barker's novels and short fiction.

Clive Barker is a sham, a charlatan, and a thief. There, I've said it. What do I mean by this? How can I say such things? I sit here surrounded by the works of Clive Barker, books strewn around me on the floor. In my hands is a copy of the author's own guided tour of his work, The Essential Clive Barker. I've read over two thousand pages of Barker in preparation for this, and there's no other way to start.

Sham: a thing made to seem other than it is.

He has been heralded as “the future of horror” by Stephen King, and “the undisputed prince of creepy-crawly” by the Philadelphia Inquirer. Many of his...