The Great and Secret Show Everville | |
Author | Clive Barker |
---|---|
Language | English |
Published | 1989 – current |
Media type | Print, e-book |
Books of the Art or The Art Trilogy is an incomplete trilogy of novels by British writer Clive Barker, of which only the first two have been published. [1] The first book, The Great and Secret Show , was first published in 1989 and was followed by the second book, Everville , in 1994. The third book has yet to be written and there is currently no schedule for its release. [2] [3] Of plans for the third book, Barker has stated that the book will be "a big book when it comes" and that he wants to write it with "as much feeling as possible". [4]
The trilogy has been cited as an example of Barker's use of magic as a motif to "comment upon the work of the creator of art" and Barker himself has used the term to describe transformative magic that is used as "windows through which to glimpse the miraculous". [3] [5] The series thus far has been compared to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings . [6]
The Great and Secret Show follows Fletcher and Jaffe, two humans that have transcended reality to become super-human. The two initially worked together but became adversaries when it became clear that Jaffe was intent on gaining control of Quiddity, a dream sea that humans can access only three times in their lives. The two men end up siring children by raping four teenage girls with the intention that they will continue their battles, only for two of their children to fall in love.
Everville delves deeper into the mythology of the cosm (essentially, Earth) and the metacosm (another plane of existence containing the dream sea Quiddity). The character Harry D'Amour appears in the novel as a main character and some of the characters from the previous novel also make appearances.
As Barker has yet to write the third book he has yet to confirm any concrete plot but has stated some of its basic themes. He declared:
I think what the third book will concern itself with is what the very origins of Quiddity, what the connection between humanity's origin and the origin of the conscience—the dream consciousness—that is there in the Sea of Quiddity, what that connection is. I've always believed in the idea of a collective unconscious, and Quiddity is really that. It's the sea we enter, as the mythology goes, where we enter once on the night when we are born, once on the night when we first kiss, and fall in love with the world, and once at the time we die. At the most serious and profound moments in our lives, we are given a moment to enter this place of pure dreaming, and that's fascinating, my fascination with dreaming. My dreams are mirrors of my soul. I'm hoping that will all be reflected in the third and final book. [4]
Barker has also stated that he will not write the third book until he has finished the last book in The Books of Abarat series, which he said could take years and would also be dependent on whether or not he will write the sequel to Galilee first. [7] In 2014 he confirmed via Facebook that the book would be written and that he has "figured out" how he would write the ending. [8]
Critical reception for the trilogy to date has been mixed. [9] [10] Common elements of criticism tend to center around the number of characters and subplots, which caused an Everville reviewer to write that "when you weed out the subplots, you find there is no main plot". [11] [12] Author David Foster Wallace was critical of The Great and Secret Show and wrote that while the book was "not without some cool sections" it was also overly pretentious. [13] Publishers Weekly panned the first novel but praised the second, [14] which they felt "confirms the author's position not only as one of horror's most potent and fertile minds but also as one of modern fiction's premier metaphysicians". [15]
Between March 2006 and May 2007 IDW Publishing released a 12-part comic book adaptation of The Great and Secret Show. [16] A complete collection of the comics was released in 2007. [17] [18]
Clive Barker is an English novelist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the Books of Blood, which established him as a leading horror writer. He has since written many novels and other works. His fiction has been adapted into films, notably the Hellraiser series, the first installment of which he also wrote and directed, and the Candyman series. He was also an executive producer of the film Gods and Monsters, which won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awards. Three of his novels have been adapted into films.
Hellraiser is a 1987 British supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, and produced by Christopher Figg, based on Barker's 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart. The film marked Barker's directorial debut. Its plot involves a mystical puzzle box that summons the Cenobites, a group of extra-dimensional, sadomasochistic beings who cannot differentiate between pain and pleasure. The leader of the Cenobites is portrayed by Doug Bradley, and identified in the sequels as "Pinhead".
Patricia Mary W. Barker, is a British writer and novelist. She has won many awards for her fiction, which centres on themes of memory, trauma, survival and recovery. Her work is described as direct, blunt and plainspoken. In 2012, The Observer named the Regeneration Trilogy as one of "The 10 best historical novels".
Robin Jarvis (born 8 May 1963) is a British Young-Adult fiction (YA) and children's novelist, who writes dark fantasy, suspense and supernatural thrillers. His books for young adults have featured the inhabitants of a coastal town battling a monumental malevolence with the help of its last supernatural guardian (The Witching Legacy), a diminutive race of Werglers (shape shifters) pitched against the evil might of the faerie hordes (The Hagwood Trilogy), a sinister "world-switching" dystopian future, triggered by a sinister and hypnotic book (Dancing Jax), Norse Fates, Glastonbury crow-demons and a time travelling, wise-cracking teddy bear. (The Wyrd Museum series), dark powers, a forgotten race and ancient evils on the North Yorkshire coast (The Whitby Witches trilogy), epic medieval adventure (The Oaken Throne) and science-fiction dramatising the "nefarious intrigue" within an alternate Tudor realm, peopled by personalities of the time, automata servants and animals known as Mechanicals and ruled by Queen Elizabeth I. (Deathscent).
IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW) and is recognized as the fifth-largest comic book publisher in the United States, behind Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Image Comics, ahead of other comic book publishers such as Archie, Boom!, Dynamite, Valiant, and Oni Press. The company is known for its licensed comic book adaptations of films, television shows, video games, and cartoons.
The Great and Secret Show is a fantasy novel by British author Clive Barker. It was released in 1989 and it is the first "Book of the Art" in a trilogy, known as "The Art Trilogy" by fans.
Everville is a 1994 fantasy novel by British author Clive Barker. The second in the Books of the Art series, it follows the 1989 novel The Great and Secret Show.
The Thief of Always is a 1992 novel written and illustrated by Clive Barker. The plot concerns an 10-year-old boy who journeys to a magical house, only to discover its master uses the home to attract children and steal their youth to ensure his own immortality.
Lord of Illusions is a 1995 American neo-noir supernatural horror film written and directed by Clive Barker, based on his own short story The Last Illusion published in 1985 in the anthology Books of Blood Volume 6. The same story introduced Barker's occult detective Harry D'Amour, who later appeared in several prose stories and comic books. Lord of Illusions is D'Amour's first onscreen appearance, with the character portrayed by actor Scott Bakula. Other actors appearing in the film include Kevin J. O'Connor, Famke Janssen and Daniel von Bargen. The story features D'Amour, who has had several experiences with the supernatural, embarking on an investigation involving a stage illusionist named Swann and a cult led by a sorcerer named Nix.
Harry D'Amour is a fictional occult detective created by author, filmmaker, and artist Clive Barker. He originally appeared in the short story The Last Illusion in Books of Blood Volume 6, an anthology written by Barker and published in 1985. D'Amour has appeared in other Clive Barker prose stories, as well as comic books published by Boom! Studios, and the 1995 film Lord of Illusions wherein the character is portrayed by actor Scott Bakula. Following this, the comic book adaptation of Barker's novel The Great and Secret Show depicts D'Amour as resembling Bakula. In 2012, the cover for Hellraiser #18 used actor Thomas Jane as the model for D'Amour. In multiple stories, D'Amour is depicted as living in the same reality as Barker's popular creations the Cenobites and the Hell Priest.
In scholastic philosophy, "quiddity" was another term for the essence of an object, literally its "whatness" or "what it is".
Pinhead is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Hellraiser franchise. The character first appeared as an unnamed figure in the 1986 Clive Barker novella The Hellbound Heart. When Clive Barker adapted the novella into the 1987 film Hellraiser, he referred to the character in early drafts as "the Priest" but the final film gave no name. The production and make-up crew nicknamed the character "Pinhead"—derived from his bald head studded with nails—and fans accepted the sobriquet. The name was then used in press materials, tie-in media, and on-screen in some of the film's sequels, although Barker himself despises the moniker.
Jeff Mariotte is an American author who lives in Arizona. As well as his own original work, he is best known for writing novels and comic books based on licensed properties.
Steve Niles is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery, Simon Dark, Mystery Society, Batman: Gotham County Line, Kick-Ass – The New Girl, and Kick-Ass vs Hit-Girl.
Hellraiser is a British-American horror media franchise that consists of eleven films, as well as various comic books, and additional merchandise and media. Based on the novella The Hellbound Heart by English author Clive Barker, the franchise centers around the Cenobites which includes the primary antagonist named Pinhead.
Nick Percival is a British graphic artist and graphic novelist primarily known for his published comic book, concept artwork and career in computer animation directing.
Sam Shearon, also known under the pseudonym and credited / published also as Mister Sam Shearon is a British dark artist born in Liverpool, England. Specialising in horror and science-fiction, his work often includes elements inspired by vintage tales of monsters and madmen, dark futures, post apocalyptic genres including cyberpunk and industrial wastelands and classic literature including H.P.Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and the modern classics Clive Barker's Hellraiser and the Books of Blood all of which he has fully illustrated.
Christopher Ryall is best known as the former President, Publisher, and Chief Creative Officer of IDW Publishing, and as a writer in the comic book industry. In February 2011, his Eisner Award-nominated series, Zombies vs. Robots, co-created with artist Ashley Wood, was optioned by Sony Pictures for Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes with Mike Flanagan as director.
Daryl Gregory is an American science fiction, fantasy and comic book author. Gregory is a 1988 alumnus of the Michigan State University Clarion science fiction workshop, and won the 2009 Crawford Award for his novel Pandemonium.