MY LIFE THROUGH BOOKS 3: THE HORROR! THE HORROR!

 Hi Everyone, I'm almost halfway through Nano! It's been a little difficult with work so I may have to change my deadline, I'm committed to it though.    

                  I'm a Horror girl! I always liked spooky cartoons and movies as a child and preteen. From the original Halloween and Friday the 13th to the classic Hammer Horror film series and of course the Universal Monsters films: Frankenstein, The Wolf man, The Mummy.

In High School I discovered Stephen King and Clive Barker. This two authors quickly became my favorites and I started to read the authors that inspired them: Ray Bradbury, Ramsey Campbell, H.P. Lovecraft, Mary Shelly, Bram Stoker.

My very first trip to California was due to the wonderful Fangoria Convention: Weekend Of Horrors, in which Clive Barker was the featured guest. I knew the minute I got off the plane I wanted to live in California, the convention was amazing, from the shopping signings and more importantly great conversations with fellow fans.

I've never been able to fully describe what draws me to Horror. It's a mysterious thing that can really only be understood by a fellow fan. One of the first Bloggers I met was the lovely BOOK CHICK CITY I was so excited to discover another "Horror Girl"

I love checking her site to see what she's reading and reviewing :)

In the Introduction of this anthology George R.R. Martin talks about the nature of Horror stories it truly conveys what I enjoy about horror and why I return to the genre again and again:

"The best horror stories are stories firs and horror second. They have room in them for laughter as well as screams, for triumph and tenderness as well as tragedy. They concern themselves not simply with fear, but with life in all it's infinite variety, with love and death and birth and hope and lust and transcendence. The best horror stories tell us truths"


This anthology of Night Visions spotlights Clive Barkers The Hellbound Heart. This novella is the basis for the movie Hellraiser. The plot of the story is very similar to the movie with one exception : the Heroine of the novella Kristy is actually a friend of Rory and Julia and not Rory's daughter.

Julia is the center of this story. She had a passion for Frank, a brief tormented affair but Frank left her to seek out pleasures and desires on his own. In Franks' absence Julia marries his brother Rory and settles into a bored suburban lifestyle.

Frank returns to Julia after escaping from the deadly cenobites. He is not the man she remembered just pieces of flesh. Franks return wakes Julia from her stupor and she risks all to bring him what he needs : bodies, flesh and blood to replace what was taken from him.

Kristy is an assistant to Rory and holds deep unrequited feelings for him. She discovers Julia's infidelity but cannot guess at the horrors she has released in order to bring Frank back to life.

Barker's narrative style shines in this story. It unfolds subtly until the dramatic entrance of the cenobites at the end. Clive is a master at characterization, all of these characters are motivated by love and passion and Clive deftly infuses this with the horror of the puzzle box and the cenobite dimension. I was so drawn to Kristy who is in the difficult position of loving a man who can never be hers but yet she finds the strength to try to save him. A wonderful novella surrounded with other great stories by Ramsey Campbell and Lisa Tuttle.