The Inhuman Condition »

A diversely talented and always chilling writer-artist, Clive Barker creates worlds that turn humanity's baser qualities inside out, hold them in front of a funhouse mirror, and transform them into the stuff of nightmares.

A master storyteller and unrivaled visionary, Clive Barker has mixed the real and unreal with the horrible and wonderful in more than twenty years of fantastic fiction. The Inhuman Condition is a masterwork of surrealistic terror, recounting tragedy with pragmatism, inspiring panic more than dread and evoking equal parts revulsion and delight.

Library Journal

In this collection of five tales of horror, the author uses various devices such as a piece of string, a pair of ghosts, an experimental aphrodisiac, and a pair of hands to lead his characters into a world of nightmarish experiences. Four of the tales are well done, each beginning with a seemingly normal situation: an encounter between a vagrant and a group of young thugs; a traveling evangelist and his companions; a laboratory experiment; and a husband and wife in bed. But with a bizarre twist the element of terror is introduced. The fifth story, about a planned encounter with Satan, is too brief, however. Reader Dillinger Steele's low, even tone sets the mood of this collection. Recommended where Barker (Everville, Audio Reviews, LJ 2/1/95) is popular or wherever horror circulates.Catherine Swenson, Norwich Univ. Lib., Northfield, Vt.

Contents

The Inhuman Condition

The Body Politic

Revelations

Down, Satan!

The Age of Desire