Clive Barker has brought us hidden gems in terms of games, incredible short stories, incredible novels, incredible movies and plans to be involved in many, many more. The Great and Secret Show and Everville comprise his magnum opus, the books of the art.
Well here is the basic gist of the storyline. Take Stephen King’s The Stand, take out the religious aspect and the plague, add in a couple dozen pounds of a couple dozen different hallucinogens and then add in a second realm of being. It is a damning look into the hearts of humanity and into their discontented dreams. It is a story of fear, salvation; facing your own demons and helping others face theirs. It is apocalyptic and twists some beliefs around on themselves.
Clive Barker captures the hatred, paranoia and fear of difference that people generally suffers from perfectly. He also captures the attempts at staying a semi-puritanical society of America through the repression of dreams, sexuality and aggression. Barker does this by turning it on its head, sucking both good dreams and nightmares and throwing them into a war in a reality of unbridled sexuality and violence. This “reality” is our own.
Monsters, or at least what would commonly be thought of as monsters, run rampant when the most vile, monstrous, atrocious forms in the world(s) ends up being the ones in the human flesh, especially if that human flesh happens to be devout in religious belief.
Barker’s writing throughout these two novels is nothing short of epic poetry; only take out the form and techniques necessary for epic poetry. They are without a doubt two of the best works he has out to date. “The Art” is one of the things that established him as a dark fantasy/horror writer and will be one of the things that will continue in keeping him a prominent figurehead in the darkened halls of horror even well after he has passed on.
It is well worth the money to get the two books in any edition found. Discover the magic and the beauty of the art. You will not be disappointed with the complex story woven through these two books.