Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

“Magic Is the First and Last Religion of the World. It Has the Power to Make Us Whole.”

Imajica by Clive Barker

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Damn, the effort I have gone to in my search for a book that fits the “I” square! I went through a bit of a horror-reading phase in my early twenties, and Clive Barker was one of the authors I had on rotation. But I never did pick up his fantasy doorstopper Imajica—I think I was just a little too intimidated. But in the age of e-readers, what’s to stop me? Imajica is certainly epic in scope; the story covers the Five Dominions that make […]

The Scarlet Gospels

The Scarlet Gospels by Clive Barker

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I am a fan of the Hellraiser series in theory but not really in principal. I find the core concept to be absolutely horrifying, and the expanded lore surrounding Leviathan and the Order of the Gash to be outstanding. The comics seem like they do a really good job of expanding on things, but the only actual film media of the series I like is Huluraiser. Everything else is fairly lame, schlocky trash. The books are another issue. The Hellbound Heart is fantastic, and The Scarlet Gospels was […]

The Hellbound Heart

The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker

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Even if you haven’t heard of Hellraiser, you’ve probably seen images of Pinhead, the main antagonist of the series. He looks like BDSM taken to its perverted extreme, with a grid of cuts carved into his head and nails driven in at each intersection. It’s distressing imagery, and the series details incredibly distressing concepts. Within the universe, there exists a method of breaking into other dimensions where beings dedicated to extremes of experience exist. Pinhead leads the Cenobites, who spend eternity exploring the furthest reaches of […]

Hollyweird

Coldheart Canyon by Clive Barker

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I enjoyed this one almost in spite of itself. Being on a Hollywood/LA kick, I decided to tackle this during a space in my schedule where I’d have a lot of time to read. And I was able to binge it in two days. It helped that the writing is good. I loved Baker’s prose, his smooth storytelling ways, etc. And the characters were interesting enough to indulge in. The execution though. That was…something. Frankly, I can stand the weird stuff that Barker is known […]

Books of Meh

Books of Blood (vol 1-3) by Clive Barker

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As a Constant Reader of Stephen King, sometimes I get a little worried that there might be a whole world of horror novels out there that I am missing out on, so, I did some research. After digging deep into the r/books subreddit, it seemed apparent to me that I was truly missing out by having not consumed any of Clive Barker’s novels. Of course, I’m familiar with the name and a Pinhead fan (at least in a theatrical sense) so I thought I’d better […]

Thanksgiving Week Glut

The Odyssey by Homer; Emily Wilson

A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh

Nine Princes of Amber by Roger Zelazny

To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer

Free Lance Pallbearers by Ishmael Reed

Dragons of Highlord Skies by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Revolutionary Characters by Gordon Wood

Glory by Vladimir Nabokov

Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas

South of the Border West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami

Books of Blood by Clive Barker

Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut

Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov

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The Odyssey – 5/5 Stars So my review is specific to the newer Emily Wilson translation, which I find particularly good and readable. She writes a long introduction that serves as a solid guide to the epic, to the writing, the historical context, and other important keys. This is long, but worthwhile, especially if you’re new to the story or it’s been a long time or you’re a little rough in your epic-reading. From there, there’s a very good translator’s note of some length explaining […]



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