To my surprise, Paul did not convey to me verbally, the reply Clive Barker had made to my probing enquiry or regale me with a lengthy anecdote about his experience. When I next met with Paul, I was presented with a first edition copy of The Great and Secret Show. What words of wisdom would I be given in return? How the hubris of my youth still haunts me to this day.

I awaited eagerly at home pondering how my thoughtful and penetrating question would be greeted by the great author. However, something came up unexpectedly and I was unable to attend the signing, so my friend Paul went alone, entrusted with a vital message like R2-D2. My memory is a little vague here but I believe an autumn appearance at The Forbidden Planet in London offered me the best opportunity to meet Clive Barker. Naturally there was a various book signings across the UK to promote the new book. Such work provided a great opportunity for fans to pose, get their fix and stroke their beards. We had Clive Barker who provided not only comparable brain food but did so via the medium of the horror genre. Let other’s sit around and debate Proust or Kafka. You have to bring your imagination and intellect with you when you read his work. Barker has always had a gift for characters and is an author that doesn’t give his readers everything on a plate. Expectations among fans were high as they prepared themselves for another cerebral, densely plotted and philosophical tale. In August 1989 Clive Barker released his fifth major novel, The Great and Secret Show. These were halcyon days for fan boys and girls. Despite the yolk of the Video Recordings Acts and the scaremongering of the tabloid press over “Video nasties”, horror fiction both in print and on the big screen was elevated to new levels due to the creativity of one British author and director. Oh, to be a twenty something horror fan during the genre renaissance of that decade. I consumed all his work voraciously and sought out magazine and television interviews with him whenever I could, finding the man equally as fascinating as his work. During the eighties, I was an avid fan of the novelist Clive Barker.

The great and secret show