Happy Birthday CLIVE BARKER!

Next to Susan Henderson and Robin Slick, Clive Barker is the most important writer in the world to me. I first discovered his literature when I read EVERVILLE; THE SECOND BOOK OF THE ART in 1997 while I was a student at UCSC. A year later I met him in person in Berkeley. He is the only author that I have ever met or felt like meeting. Aside from Susan and Robin, he is probably the only author that I will go out of my way to meet again. I met him again in 2004 in San Francisco and went to extreme efforts to be the last person in line to speak with him. I needed to tell him the story of the discovery of the idea of, and the writing of my novel. I had brought my transcript (notes and research) with me and asked him to give me his blessing. He wrote an inscription on the inside cover of my notebook and posed for photos with me.

Clive has also written and directed films, some of which are extremely scary (Hellraiser, Lord Of Illusions, and Nightbreed) and one of which is one of my all time favorite horror films; CANDYMAN. Speaking of which, I think I will have a Clive Barker Film Festival tonight in celebration of this dark prince's birth!

Since my last meeting with Clive I have started a collection of autographed works of his. This could be a very long post but I am pressed for time right now and don't have access to the items I want to show you. So I will post this now and work on a second post later tonight with more photos and media links. For now, check this latest available interview of his out.