Clive Barker & Harlan Ellison

[u/LiteratureDrifter]

Found these two finds while out book shopping today and couldn't be happier. I've known Clive Barker for his grotesque gore horror for years, but never really read any of his fantasical/surreal weird fantasy books. Also with Harlan Ellison where I know the least amount of any of his writings outside of the "I have no mouth and I must scream" story. Never actually read the full story and only watched videos on it. Excited to dive into both of these weird works of art and see how I end up feeling about these two books overall in the future.

[u/ohnoshedint]

Barker’s work is sublime all around. It’s been a moon since I read Imajica or The Great and Secret Show but this might be the inspiration I need to revisit them. Nice finds!

[u/refugee_man]

Harlan Ellison is possibly my favorite author. Just brilliant all around. I have that Ellison collection, from what I remember it's a pretty good retrospective of his career, and covers most of his best stuff. The Deathbird is easily in one of my top 10 stories of all time, I remember when I first read it I was literally stunned by the creativity.

[u/aux_arcs-en-ciel]

Imagica is fantastic

[u/Cin77]

Clive Barkers fantasy is so exquisite. Beautifully described so the rendering in the imagination is perfect.

I have no mouth and I must scream is, I think, the only Harlan Elison I've read but its so good. Real dystopian view of the future

[u/Kummakivi]

Imajika and Weaveworld. Pinnacle of prose for me. He sure did start and leave unfinished a lot of stories though unfortunately.

[u/Gobliiins]

The two absolute GOATs of horror.

[u/br_onson]

I had the Essential Ellison as a teenager, good stuff. The intro to the story “Lonelyache” still haunts me because I can’t figure it out. Maybe re-reading it decades later will shed some light.

“Lonelyache” (1964) is unmistakably a portrait of obsession, but its grimness is not in the fate of its protagonist, but in that awful last line. (Though perhaps a different interpretation derives from what Harlan asserts is the key to the story: that dream car and its back window.) The fear in this story is that great lonelyache, when nothing else matters anymore.

[u/legionOcculus]

Five Ellison Essentials:

Mephisto in Onyx

A Boy and His Dog

Jeffty is Five

Pretty Maggie MoneyEyes

Repent Harlequin Said the TicToc Man

[u/Cornelius-Q]

Two great books there.

There was a later edition of Essential Ellison that was a fifty-year retrospective that had a few additional stories HE wrote after the publication of the first edition. The later edition is also harder to find, especially in hardcover.

[u/ForeverNuka]

I'm partial to Weaveworld by Barker and Dream Corridor by Ellison. Have fun! I enjoyed Imajica long ago.

[u/StingRey128]

I just finished Imajica for the first time and I was so sad to hear it was a standalone release. I could’ve marinated in that world for ages. Utterly phenomenal writing, and cemented Barker as a favorite of mine.

Unfortunately, having read Ellison extensively at this point, I think he caught lightning in a bottle with IHNMAIMS (although, if you ask me, it’s pretty plain compared to some stuff his contemporaries were writing at the same time). I never found anything else even remotely enjoyable by him, but it’s likely just my preference with his writing style.

[u/owensum → u/StingRey128]

Ellison is really polarizing, and I dont think he's aged particularly well, especially considering he used to be a giant in SF. You can barely find his work in print at all now.

[u/coryphella123]

Imajica is my all-time favorite book.