MovieChat Forums > Clive Barker Discussion > Name a more unique horror writer

Name a more unique horror writer


I love that his stuff isn't based on tired, old tropes like vampires, werewolves, zombies and the like. His stuff is very unique and original.

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His stuff is tired AF. Books of blood were fun and some other old stuff. Nowadays he's writing throwaway shitpost packed as paperbacks.

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I haven't paid attention to his newer stuff but The Great and Secret Show, Weaveworld and Imagica, etc., are VERY unique.

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Out of curiosity, if you're so impressed with what you've read then why did you stop paying attention to his work?

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You know, that's an excellent question. I think at the time I didn't hear about latter stuff and just started reading other stuff. I may have to look into some of the stuff I haven't read.

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It seems like it often goes this way with artists, whether we're talking about authors or musicians or actors or film directors. They have a window in which they're hot and people are paying attention, and then they keep working but the masses largely lose interest and move on to the next big thing.

There's something sad and unfortunate in that to me, but that's how it almost always goes. You really have to respect those very few who manage to stay relevant throughout their entire careers.

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He'd be relevant if he still wrote good stuff. But he's stopped doing that years before he survived his dentist.

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Before he survived his dentist?

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[deleted]

Weaveworld is one of my favourite ever books.

It's surprising that still nobody turned it into a movie as it's perfect for it.

There was talk of making a series of it but I guess that fizzled out as nothing has happened since 2015 to create it.

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[deleted]

I like Straub too. Magicland and Floating Dragon were great. I think both could be excellent movies. I don't think he's as unique as Barker, though.

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Robert McCammon

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I'm not familiar with him. I'll check him out. Thanks! 😀

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McCammon is a great writer, but he's hardly unique. Almost all his books are improved riffs on Stephen King novels.

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I don't see that at all. In my opinion, McCammon and King have completely different styles. It's like comparing Phillip Margolin and John Grisham. They both write about the same topic, the law, but bring different approaches to it.

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I remember how his early stuff blew me away when I first read it. Stephen King had correctly said that Barker made him and other horror writers look like they've been asleep for ten years. Sadly, he puttered out right after "The Great and Secret Show" in '90 when he re-classified himself as a writer of dark fantasy and no longer horror. I continued to read him up until "Galilee," and kept waiting for the big payoff, but it just continued as some kind of lame sex fantasy, so I stopped reading his work until "The Scarlet Gospels." That one was so bad I'll never trust him again. I still don't think he even wrote that one. I think he hired a hack to do it.

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Wow! Interesting. I didn't know he got away from horror.

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This

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