Table of Contents

Early life
Theatrical work
Writing career
Personal life
Film work
Television work
Visual art
Comic books
Works
Novels
Short stories
Plays
Poems
Non-fiction
Toys
Literary awards
Filmography
Adaptations
Video games
See also
References
Bibliography
External links

Clive Barker

NameClive Barker
Image
CaptionBarker in 2007
Birth Date1952-10-5
Birth PlaceLiverpool, England
Websiteclivebarker.com

Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is a British writer, filmmaker, and visual artist. He came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of short stories collectively named the Books of Blood, which established him as a leading horror author. His work has been adapted into films, notably the Hellraiser series (the first installment of which he also wrote and directed) and the Candyman series.

Barker's paintings and illustrations have been shown in galleries in the United States, and have appeared in his books. He has also created characters and series for comic books, and some of his more popular horror stories have been featured in ongoing comics series.

Early life

Barker was born in Liverpool on 5 October 1952. His mother, Joan Ruby (née Revill), was a painter and school welfare officer; his father, Leonard Barker, worked as the personnel director for an industrial relations firm. He was educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool before joining the University of Liverpool, where he studied English and philosophy. At the age of three, he witnessed the infamous death of French skydiver Léo Valentin, who plummeted to the ground during a performance at an air show in Liverpool. He would later allude to Valentin in many of his stories.

Theatrical work

Barker's involvement in live theatre began while still in school with productions of Voodoo and Inferno in 1967. He collaborated on six plays with Theatre of the Imagination in 1974 and two more that he was the sole writer of, A Clowns' Sodom and Day of the Dog, for The Mute Pantomime Theatre in 1976 and 1977.

Barker co-founded the avant-garde theatrical troupe The Dog Company in 1978 with former schoolmates and up-and-coming actors, many of whom would go on to become key collaborators in his film work; Doug Bradley, his long-time friend and former classmate at Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool, took on the now-iconic role of Pinhead in the Hellraiser series while Peter Atkins wrote the scripts for the first three Hellraiser sequels. Over the next five years Barker wrote nine plays, often serving as director, including some of his best-known stage productions, The History of The Devil, Frankenstein in Love, and The Secret Life of Cartoons.

From 1982 to 1983, he wrote Crazyface, Subtle Bodies, and Colossus for the Cockpit Youth Theatre.

His theatrical work came to a close as he shifted focus to writing the Books of Blood.

Writing career

Barker is an author of horror and fantasy, although he has said that he thinks of his writing less and less as horror. He began writing early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1–6) and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved toward modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991), and Sacrament (1996).

When Books of Blood was first published in the United States in paperback, Stephen King was quoted on the book covers: "I have seen the future of horror and his name is Clive Barker." As influences on his writing, Barker lists Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, William S. Burroughs, William Blake, and Jean Cocteau, among others.

He is the writer of the best-selling Abarat series.

In early 2024, he announced he would stop attending conventions and public events so he could focus more on his writing, as he was working on the manuscripts for 31 different projects, some closer to completion than others.

Personal life

Barker stated on Loveline in 1996 that he had several relationships with older women during his teenage years, but realised he was gay when he was around 18 or 19 years old. He dated John Gregson from 1975 to 1986, and was later in a relationship from 1996 to 2009 with photographer David Armstrong, who was described as his husband in the introduction to Coldheart Canyon.

During his early years as a writer, Barker occasionally worked as an escort when his writing did not provide sufficient income. He has been open about his experiences with sadomasochism, calling himself a "six" on its "sliding scale".

In 2003, Barker received the Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards.

Barker is critical of organized religion, but has said that the Bible influences his work and spirituality. In 2017, he clarified on Facebook that he did not identify as a Christian.

Barker said in a December 2008 online interview (published in March 2009) that he had throat polyps which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in only 10% of the air he was supposed to. He has had two surgical procedures to remove them and believes his voice has improved as a result. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars.

In 2012, Barker fell into a coma for several days after contracting toxic shock syndrome, triggered by a visit to a dentist where a spillage of poisonous bacteria entered his bloodstream and almost killed him. Realising he might have just a short time to live, he decided to put his personal concerns about the world and society into the novel Deep Hill, which he thought could be his final book.

As of 2015, Barker is a member of the board of advisers for the Hollywood Horror Museum.

Film work

Barker wrote the screenplays for Underworld (1985) and Rawhead Rex (1986), both directed by George Pavlou. Displeased by how his material was handled, he moved to directing with Hellraiser (1987), based on his novella The Hellbound Heart. After his film Nightbreed (1990) flopped, Barker returned to write and direct Lord of Illusions (1995). The short story "The Forbidden", from Barker's Books of Blood, provided the basis for the 1992 film Candyman and its three sequels. He had been working on a series of film adaptations of his The Abarat Quintet books under The Walt Disney Company's management, but due to creative differences, the project was cancelled.

He served as an executive producer for the 1998 film Gods and Monsters, a semi-fictional tale of Frankenstein director James Whale's later years, which won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Barker said of his interest in the project: "Whale was gay, I'm gay; Whale was English, I'm English…Whale made some horror movies, and I've made some horror movies. It seemed as if I should be helping to tell this story." Barker also provided the foreword on the published shooting script.

In 2005, Barker and horror film producer Jorge Saralegui created the film production company Midnight Picture Show with the intent of producing two horror films per year.

In October 2006, Barker announced through his website that he will be writing the script to a forthcoming remake of the original Hellraiser film. He was developing a film based on his Tortured Souls line of toys from McFarlane Toys. In 2020, Barker regained control of the Hellraiser franchise, and served as executive producer on a 2022 reboot film for the streaming service Hulu.

Television work

In May 2015, Variety reported that Clive Barker was developing a television series adaptation of various creepypastas in partnership with Warner Brothers, to be called Clive Barker's Creepypastas, a feature arc based on Slender Man and Ben Drowned. Barker was involved in a streaming service film adaptation of The Books of Blood in 2020, and is developing a Nightbreed television series directed by Michael Dougherty and written by Josh Stolberg for SyFy. In April 2020, HBO was announced to be developing a Hellraiser television series that would serve as "an elevated continuation and expansion" of its mythology with Mark Verheiden and Michael Dougherty writing the series and David Gordon Green directing several episodes. Verheiden, Dougherty and Green will also be executive producing the series with Danny McBride, Jody Hill, Brandon James and Roy Lee of Vertigo Entertainment.

Visual art

Barker is a prolific visual artist, often illustrating his own books. His paintings have been seen first on the covers of his official fan club magazine, Dread, published by Fantaco in the early 1990s; on the covers of the collections of his plays, Incarnations (1995) and Forms of Heaven (1996); and on the second printing of the original British publications of his Books of Blood series. Barker also provided the artwork for his young adult novel The Thief of Always and for the Abarat series. His artwork has been exhibited at Bert Green Fine Art in Los Angeles and Chicago, at the Bess Cutler Gallery in New York and La Luz De Jesus in Los Angeles. Many of his sketches and paintings can be found in the collection Clive Barker, Illustrator, published in 1990 by Arcane/Eclipse Books, and in Visions of Heaven and Hell, published in 2005 by Rizzoli Books.

He worked on the horror video game Clive Barker's Undying, providing the voice for the character Ambrose. Undying was developed by DreamWorks Interactive and released in 2001. He worked on Clive Barker's Jericho for Codemasters, which was released in late 2007.

Barker created Halloween costume designs for Disguise Costumes.

Around 150 art works by Barker were used in the set of the Academy of the Unseen Arts for the Netflix TV series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Comic books

Barker published his Razorline imprint via Marvel Comics in 1993.

Barker horror adaptations and spin-offs in comics include the Marvel/Epic Comics series Hellraiser, Nightbreed, Pinhead, The Harrowers, Book of the Damned, and Jihad; Eclipse Books' series and graphic novels Tapping The Vein, Dread, Son of Celluloid, Revelations, The Life of Death, Rawhead Rex and The Yattering and Jack, and Dark Horse Comics' Primal, among others. Barker served as a consultant and wrote issues of the Hellraiser anthology comic book.

In 2005, IDW published a three-issue adaptation of Barker's children's fantasy novel The Thief of Always, written and painted by Kris Oprisko and Gabriel Hernandez. IDW is publishing a 12 issue adaptation of Barker's novel The Great and Secret Show.

In December 2007, Chris Ryall and Clive Barker announced an upcoming collaboration of an original comic book series, Torakator, to be published by IDW.

In 2008, Barker authored a foreword for the first volume of the DEMONICSEX comic series by Chuck Conner and Sean Platter.

In October 2009, IDW published Seduth, co-written by Barker. The work was released with three variant covers.

In 2011, Boom! Studios began publishing an original Hellraiser comic book series.

In 2013, Boom! Studios announced Next Testament, the first original story by Barker to be published in comic book format.

Works

Novels


''Hellraiser'' series

  1. The Hellbound Heart (1986), novella
  2. The Scarlet Gospels (2015)
  3. Hellraiser: The Toll (2018) (Story credit; Barker's unfinished short story "Heaven's Reply" served as a basis for the novella, which was authored by Mark Alan Miller)

''Books of the Art'' series

  1. The Great and Secret Show (1989)
  2. Everville (1994)

''The Books of Abarat''

  1. Abarat (2002)
  2. Days of Magic, Nights of War (2004)
  3. Absolute Midnight (2011)

Short stories

Collections:


Uncollected short stories:

Plays

Collections:


All plays:

Poems

Uncollected poems:


Non-fiction

Art
Clive Barker, Illustrator series:
  1. Clive Barker, Illustrator (1990)
  2. Illustrator II: The Art of Clive Barker (1992)
Visions of Heaven and Hell (2005)
Clive Barker: Imaginer series:
  1. Clive Barker: Imaginer Volume 1 (2014)
  2. Clive Barker: Imaginer Volume 2 (2015)
  3. Clive Barker: Imaginer Volume 3 (2016)
  4. Clive Barker: Imaginer Volume 4 (2017)
  5. Clive Barker: Imaginer Volume 5 (2018)
  6. Clive Barker: Imaginer Volume 6 (2018)
  7. Clive Barker: Imaginer Volume 7 (2020)
  8. Clive Barker: Imaginer Volume 8 (2020)

Essays
The Painter, The Creature and The Father of Lies (2011)

Toys


Literary awards

WorkYear & AwardCategoryResultRef.
In the Hills, the Cities1985 British Fantasy AwardShort Story
Clive Barker's Books of Blood (Vols. I-III)1985 Locus AwardCollection
1985 World Fantasy AwardAnthology/Collection
Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament1985 World Fantasy AwardNovella
The Damnation Game1986 Locus AwardFantasy
1986 World Fantasy AwardNovel
1987 Bram Stoker AwardFirst Novel
Clive Barker's Books of Blood (Vols. IV-VI))1986 Locus AwardCollection
1986 World Fantasy AwardAnthology/Collection
The Forbidden1986 British Fantasy AwardShort Story
The Hellbound Heart1987 World Fantasy AwardNovella
Weaveworld1988 Locus AwardFantasy
1988 World Fantasy AwardNovel
Cabal1989 Locus AwardNovella
Cabal (Collection)1989 Locus AwardCollection
1989 World Fantasy AwardCollection
The Great and Secret Show1990 Locus AwardHorror
Imajica1992 Locus AwardHorror/Dark Fantasy
1998 Grand Prix de l'ImaginaireForeign Novel
The Thief of Always1993 Locus AwardHorror/Dark Fantasy
1996 Kurd Laßwitz AwardForeign Work
Everville1995 Locus AwardHorror/Dark Fantasy
Sacrament1996 International Horror Guild AwardNovel
1997 Lambda Literary Award for Speculative FictionScience Fiction/Fantasy
1997 British Fantasy AwardAugust Derleth Award
1997 Locus AwardHorror/Dark Fantasy
Galilee1999 Locus AwardHorror/Dark Fantasy
1999 Lambda Literary Award for Speculative FictionScience Fiction/Fantasy
2001 Prix OzoneForeign Horror Novel
Coldheart Canyon2001 International Horror Guild AwardNovel
2002 Locus AwardFantasy
Abarat2002 Bram Stoker AwardWork for Young Readers
2002 International Horror Guild AwardGraphic Narrative
2003 Locus AwardYoung Adult
Abarat: Days of Magic, Nights of War2004 Bram Stoker AwardWork for Young Readers
2005 Locus AwardYoung Adult
2005 British Fantasy AwardAugust Derleth Award
Haeckel's Tale2005 Bram Stoker AwardShort Fiction
Visions of Heaven and Hell2006 Locus AwardArt Book
Abarat: Absolute Midnight2012 Locus AwardYoung Adult
The Scarlet Gospels2015 Goodreads Choice AwardsHorror
2015 Bram Stoker AwardNovel
1991 Inkpot Award
1995 World Horror Convention Grand Master Award
1995 International Horror Guild AwardLiving Legend Award
2013 Bram Stoker AwardLifetime Achievement Award

Filmography

1985Underworld
1986Rawhead Rexbased on Barker's short story "Rawhead Rex"
1987Hellraiserbased on Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart
1988Hellbound: Hellraiser II
1990Nightbreedbased on Barker's novella Cabal
1992SleepwalkersBarker has an acting credit as "Forensic Tech"
Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth
Candymanbased on Barker's short story "The Forbidden"
1995Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh
Lord of Illusionsbased on Barker's short story "The Last Illusion"
1996Hellraiser: Bloodline
1998Gods and Monsters
2006The Plague
2008The Midnight Meat Trainbased on Barker's short story "The Midnight Meat Train"
2009Book of Bloodbased on Barker's short stories "The Book of Blood" & "On Jerusalem Street"
Dreadbased on Barker's short story "Dread"
2019JoJo Baby
2020Books of Bloodbased on Barker's short story "The Book of Blood"
2022Hellraiserbased on Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart
2025Night of the Zoopocalypsebased on Barker's short story "Zoombies"

1987Tales From The Darksideepisode: "The Yattering and Jack"
1997Quicksilver HighwayTV movie, based on Barker's short story "The Body Politic", Barker has an acting credit as "Anesthesiologist"
2002Saint SinnerTV movie
2006Masters of Horrorepisodes: "Haeckel's Tale" & "Valerie on the Stairs"

1973Salomebased on the play
1978The Forbidden

Adaptations


Video games

YearTitleDeveloper
1990Clive Barker's Nightbreed: The Action GameImpact Software Development
Nightbreed, The Interactive Movie
2001Clive Barker's UndyingEA Los Angeles
2007Clive Barker's JerichoMercurySteam
Alchemic Productions
TBAClive Barker's Hellraiser: RevivalBoss Team Games
CancelledClive Barker's DemonikTerminal Reality

See also


References


Bibliography


External links




Category:1952 births
Category:Living people
Category:Artists from Liverpool
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Category:GLAAD Media Awards winners
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