The weekend

[jonathanstrahan]

It was a weird weekend, tiring, disjointed and kind of unsatisfactory. I read some stories that left me completely puzzled and unsure whether I knew a good story or not, and a couple very good ones. I started Al Reynolds' Pushing Ice, but set it aside when I realised that I just wasn't ready for it. Instead, Tim emailed me The Strange Adventures of

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Mister B. Gone

[anonymous]

At last, multi-talented superstar Clive Barker returns to adult literature, and he comes bearing a subversive discovery: the only edition of a demonic “autobiography” copied secretly in the workshop of Johannes Gutenberg in 1438 and then suppressed for centuries. Until now. MISTER B. GONE (HarperCollins Publishers On Sale: October 30, 2007 $24.95 Hardcover), a mind-blowing “confessional” unearthed by the reigning master of dark fantasy, rekindles the age-old battle between good and evil just in time for Halloween. And the reverberations as this gruesome document is finally unleashed could be catastrophic. Meet Jakabok Botch, an avowed enemy of mankind and the most diabolical narrator ever to take center stage. Needling his audience to “burn this book” repeatedly and claiming to be imprisoned by the unfolding pages, this malevolent force plays mind games with his readers as he recounts his story of damnation. The deformed, unwanted and frequently brutalized son of demon parents, he escapes the Ninth Circle of the World Below while still a youngster, arriving on earth and gradually realizing the full breadth of his fiendish abilities. Along the way, a more accomplished elder, Quitoon, mentors him in the blackest arts. Their love-hate relationship will become the defining one of Jakabok’s life as these twisted soulmates run wild for hundreds of years committing unspeakably hideous atrocities at every turn. Ultimately their insatiable hunger for mass destruction leads them to the birthplace of the printing press. There, a fiery collision between the hellish and the heavenly sparks a shocking climax that will reveal the awesome power of written words - especially those embedded in this very text! Born and raised in England, Clive Barker is the internationally bestselling author of twenty books, ranging from epic adult horror fiction to the newly published and award-winning children’s modern classic series Abarat. He is also a widely acclaimed artist, film producer, screenwriter and director, most notably of Hellraiser, a cult classic 1987 British horror film based on his critically acclaimed novella The Hellbound Heart. It is the first film in the Hellraiser series, having spawned seven sequels as of 2006 with a remake announced in 2007. This movie was number 19 on the cable channel Bravo’s list of the “100 Scariest Movie Moments.” Mr. Barker makes his home in Beverly Hills, California. A propulsive frightfest layered with psychological nuances, textured characterizations, philosophical reflections and theological meditations, MISTER B. GONE is the Clive Barker original his millions of fans worldwide have been awaiting, one packed with subtle scares and heart-stopping terrors from cover to cover.