#Spooktober-‘Cabal’ by Clive Barker

About the book…

Cabal is the story of Boone, a tortured soul haunted by the conviction that he has committed atrocious crimes.

In a necropolis in the wilds of Canada, he seeks refuge and finds the last great creatures of the world – the shape-shifters known as the Nightbreed. They are possessed of unearthly powers-and so is Boone.

In the hunt for Boone, they too will be hunted. Now only the courage of this strange human can save them from extinction. And only the undying passion of a woman can save Boone from his own corrupting hell…

This novella is the basis for the Major Motion Picture – ‘Nightbreed’

‘Cabal’ by Clive Barker, was first published in 1988 and has remained in print ever since.

Depressed and suicidal, Boone and his fractious relationship with girlfriend Lori, is the subject of many analytical sessions with his psychiatrist, Dr Decker. Convinced that the world would be better off without him, unable to feel or believe in a future, he tries to take his own life, ending up in a hospital emergency room. Here he first hears the whispers of Midian, a fabled city where those who ‘do not quite fit‘, run too and all are accepted.

The horrifying revelations that accompanying Boone’s first notion of both escape, and salvation, are death, murder and mutilation, as both police and Decker are hunting him down, believing him responsible for a string of horrendous murders.

Believing this also, it completely cements Boone’s notions of himself as a monster, an ‘other’ and he faces a choice between capture and freedom. Running to Canada with forces of nature-love in the form of Lori-and the force of justice- Sheriff Eigerman , preacher Malcolm Stone and Dr Decker-on his tail, it is a race against time for absolution.

Is Midian even real, or just the figment of a tortured soul who wants it to be?

And, when he finds it, will they take him in?

This is an incredible novel which speaks to absolutely anyone who has felt that they are monstrous for not fitting in with the rules of society, and therefore remove themselves from it. By disfiguration, gender non-conforming, sexual orientation, divergent desires or other considered ‘monstrosities’, there have always been those waiting with nooses, pitchforks, and flaming torches.

The most obvious monsters are never the ones you are able to see, they wear their human face like a mask, and hide that beast deep within.

And this is Clive’s genius, he makes you care for , and side with, those outcasts. He provides a cast of characters who are complex, involving and far from obviously tortured. He writes for those who watched James Whale’s ‘Frankenstein’ and felt for the mad doctor’s creation.

His female lead, Lori, is driven by her love for Boone and that is what makes her resilient and strong, not weak or a target. Boone does not see himself as worthy of her love, and so doing, chooses to live with the monsters. But he has absolutely no notion of what danger he presents to Midian and its occupants.

And when the doors of Midian open, you and Boone alike will face the most amazing and varied feast of characters which you have probably ever come across.

All of these people, Narcisse, Rachel, Peloquin and Shuna Sassi, Baphomet and Lysleberg, just live their existence out of the way of anyone else, causing no real substantial issues until the outside world brings their issues with otherness to them .

And then, all hell breaks loose…

Lyrical, haunting and darkly beautiful, Barker’s body of work is something to revisit, treasure and find more in it every time you read. As a child of 11 ish when I first read it, I wanted to know more about Midian, and those who lived there, it felt like we had just had the briefest of introductions to this world. Waiting for a company or tv station to give Clive carte blanche to bring his vision to the light of day has been something longed for, for decades now, by those who love Nightbreed. 

I was fortunate enough, to see , a few years back, a cut of the partially restored copy of ‘Nightbreed’ , as it should have looked, with a Q and A by the sublime Simon Bamford who played Ohnaka, and, I think, one of the production team. They were touring with it around the art house cinemas of the country, and , even in its rough state, you could see how the theatrical version was so butchered.

And still, it stands as a great piece of film making (in my humble opinion) as there is enough of the passion of the actors in it, the crew, the story, all of which make you want more. 

I think (please correct me if I am wrong) that Nightbreed is on Prime in the UK, and there are still plans to bring it back to a small screen near you. Until then, I will keep re-visiting Midian in the only way I can, through the pages of ‘Cabal’.

About the author…

Clive Barker was born in Liverpool, England, the son of Joan Rubie (née Revill), a painter and school welfare officer, and Leonard Barker, a personnel director for an industrial relations firm. Educated at Dovedale Primary School and Quarry Bank High School, he studied English and Philosophy at Liverpool University and his picture now hangs in the entrance hallway to the Philosophy Department. It was in Liverpool in 1975 that he met his first partner, John Gregson, with whom he lived until 1986. Barker’s second long-term relationship, with photographer David Armstrong, ended in 2009.

In 2003, Clive Barker received The Davidson/Valentini Award at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards. This award is presented “to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individual who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for any of those communities”. While Barker is critical of organized religion, he has stated that he is a believer in both God and the afterlife, and that the Bible influences his work.

Fans have noticed of late that Barker’s voice has become gravelly and coarse. He says in a December 2008 online interview that this is due to polyps in his throat which were so severe that a doctor told him he was taking in ten percent of the air he was supposed to have been getting. He has had two surgeries to remove them and believes his resultant voice is an improvement over how it was prior to the surgeries. He said he did not have cancer and has given up cigars. On August 27, 2010, Barker underwent surgery yet again to remove new polyp growths from his throat. In early February 2012 Barker fell into a coma after a dentist visit led to blood poisoning. Barker remained in a coma for eleven days but eventually came out of it. Fans were notified on his Twitter page about some of the experience and that Barker was recovering after the ordeal, but left with many strange visions.

Barker is one of the leading authors of contemporary horror/fantasy, writing in the horror genre early in his career, mostly in the form of short stories (collected in Books of Blood 1 – 6), and the Faustian novel The Damnation Game (1985). Later he moved towards modern-day fantasy and urban fantasy with horror elements in Weaveworld (1987), The Great and Secret Show (1989), the world-spanning Imajica (1991) and Sacrament (1996), bringing in the deeper, richer concepts of reality, the nature of the mind and dreams, and the power of words and memories

Twitter @realclivebarker

Links-http://clivebarker.info/