That the artist is constantly working on anelaborate and fantasticated self-portrait, but at the end has drawn, unbeknownst, a picture of the world." -- Clive Barker, "Private Legends: An Introduction"Clive Barker, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author, playwright, artist, producer, director, screenwriter, and one of the world's master storytellers, writing in the haunting and moving traditions of Poe and Dickens, invites us to join him on a dazzling, wondrous journey through the worlds of his imagination and to experience visions, dreams, love, terror, heaven and hell, and revenge.As we read, we discover and explore the dream-sea Quiddity and the islands of Ephemeris; the five Dominions of the Imajica, of which the Earth is but an imperfect facet; the rapturous world woven into an ancient, threadbare carpet in a derelict house in Liverpool; Hood's Holiday House where each day contains four seasons and children's wishes may come true; the Sky Room of Galilee, where the creation of the universe may be witnessed; and the clubs and bars of San Francisco and New York, in which all manner of sexual adventures lie in wait.In these stories, the real and the miraculous are within a breath of one another, life gives way to death, and death to life; doorways open into other states of existence, and each doorway leads us back to our own dreams and fears.The Essential Clive Barker is an irresistible narrative compendium that superbly represents the impressive quality and range of Barker's fiction, spanning more than twenty years of writing. It contains more than seventy excerpts from novels and plays and four full-length short stories, all personally selected by Barker, and offers a privileged insight into a remarkable writer and his art.

    For the Dead, the Great War Has Only Begun. Outside the walls of Stygia, the Fourth Great Maelstrom rages. In the skies overhead, ghostly pilots engage in dogfights against shrieking Spectres. The gates of the Necropoli slam shut. And at the heart of the empire of the dead, a traitor works to topple what Oblivion never could. Civil war is about to strike Stygia, and Charon -- the one wraith who can prevent it -- is missing. Wraith: The Great War takes you to an era of innocence newly slaughtered and unimaginable terror unleashed. From the heart of the Labyrinth to the killing fields of the Somme, from the skies above Stygia to the bootleggers' warehouses of Chicago, Wraith: The Great War opens a new chapter in the history of the World of Darkness "RM", in the tradition of Vampire: The Dark Ages. Journey back in time and learn the secrets even the Deathlords are afraid to whisper -- if you dare".

    Bleiler as 'excellent', 'The Doll Maker' is the story of Clare Lydgate, a young woman studying at boarding school for her Oxford scholarship examinations. In the evenings, she escapes the school grounds by climbing over the wall of Brackenbine Hall. It is here that she encounters the charismatic and mysterious Niall Sterne, the 'Doll Maker' of the title. This is a subtle, intelligent and compelling tale of horror. The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural describes Sarban’s stories as 'nicely written, with solid characterizations, convincingly detailed backgrounds . . . and a fine sense of pacing and atmosphere.' It notes that 'The Doll Maker' is Sarban’s most intriguing work, and that Niall Sterne 'offers no ordinary seduction, and there is a delicate horror in his beautiful, sterile doll-world, the antithesis of life itself.'First published in 1953, ‘The Doll Maker’ appears with ‘The Trespassers’, and ‘A House of Call’.