SOURCE: Morrison, Michael. “Clive Barker: The Delights of Dread.” Fantasy Review 8, no. 2 (February 1985): 35-37.

In the following review, Morrison explores thematic and stylistic aspects of the short stories in the first three Books of Blood.

In 1984, Sphere Books unleashed upon the unsuspecting world Clive Barker's Books of Blood, three volumes of tales by a writer heretofore unknown in the genre. Although traditional in form and style, Barker's stories are original, disturbing, and as discomforting as anything in contemporary literature. This collection heralds the arrival of a major new talent in horror fiction.

Some of the stories in Books of Blood are inventive variations on traditional themes. For example, “Son of Celluloid” and “Human Remains” are vampire and doppelganger stories, respectively; and “The Midnight Meat Train” is a zombie story that might give George Romero nightmares. But in works like “In the Hills, the Cities” and “The Skins of...