Clive Barker's Books of Blood I II III

The first three volumes of Clive Barker's Books of Blood, first published in paperback by Sphere in 1984, gather the horror stories that launched his career. A short frame story presents the tales as accounts left by the dead, and what follows ranges from urban nightmare and folk horror to bleak comedy, among them "The Midnight Meat Train," "Dread," "Hell's Event," "Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament," "Rawhead Rex" and "Son of Celluloid." Ramsey Campbell contributes an introduction. Unflinching in its violence and imagination, and written in vivid, confident prose, the collection won the 1985 World Fantasy Award and marked Barker as a major new voice in horror fiction.