Start by marking “Hellbound Hearts” as Want to Read: This terrifying original fiction anthology is based on the critically acclaimed novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker, which has inspired the original "Hellraiser" movie and horror franchise. Paul Kane has been writing.
Table of contents
Stories such as this gave me the feeling that when the author was contacted, he already had the story lying around and thought 'I've been asked to write a story for a Hellraiser anthology. It's not a Hellraiser story.. I'll just stick a few more hooks in I picked your story at random from the contents page but my concern is that if this wasn't in an anthology called Hellbound Hearts , inspired by the novella The Hellbound Heart , I doubt anyone would make the connection. This guy is a Hellraiser headhoncho, having written screenplays for Hellraiser I believe as well as playing a cenobite in 3.
I expected a story closer to the source material. But again, these were NOT bad stories! I thoroughly enjoyed them, but the link to the novella was tenuous at best. The stories that didn't do it for me were Bullimia by Richard Christian Matheson which so clunky and abstract that, I shamefully admit, I gave up on half way through and skipped to the next story. Now, the winners of this anthology Santos Del Infierno by Jeffrey L. Mariotte I read the piece this morning while sitting in a stinking hot car in a driveway surrounded by parrots. But the story made me forget all that.
It had remarkable depth and a sensitivity that quickly breaks down into obsession, with a few surprises to keep things on edge. I enjoyed this one immensely. Next up, Barbie Wilde and her story Sister Cilice. No surprise here that Wilde's subject matter is the part she played with such gusto in Hellraiser 2, that of the simply named 'Female Cenobite'.
The story tell of how the devout sister became the open-throated queen of hell. Hauntingly written, and with a certain You feel sorry for the protag, and I actually felt a little better after her transmutation because it's what she needed and wanted. I especially liked the whole back story idea, and I would love to see one written on my favourite cenobite Butterball was his name Laslo? I think I got that from the figurine box. My outright winner however was a gem called Orfeo the Damned by Nancy Holder. This caught my attention as it held very close to the mythos and just didn't give one fuck about holding back.
It made me rethink the whole Hellraiser world in that It was exhausting to scope so much pleasure and pain! It makes me want to go back and reread the Barker novella with a new appreciation for Frank Cotton, as the guy has been through so much more then I originally thought! A great collection that I highly recommend. With just a little more focus on the source material, this would have been 5 stars, easily.
I hope there's a second collection pick me, Paul!
I have a great idea about Hellraiser cereal: Flakes of the Damned. No, seriously, pick me and how about this Mick Garris is in the collection. Make some calls, Mr Garris? Jun 24, Weez rated it liked it. Like many short story collections some of the tales in this book were great and some not so much. New Cenobites are introduced one is a cactus! New ways of opening portals are explored including bone puzzle tiles, crypt stones, an acient map to a maze, an art installation, crosswords, religious icon-type statues, a strange machine and a compass, but of course the puzzle box also makes a number Like many short story collections some of the tales in this book were great and some not so much.
New ways of opening portals are explored including bone puzzle tiles, crypt stones, an acient map to a maze, an art installation, crosswords, religious icon-type statues, a strange machine and a compass, but of course the puzzle box also makes a number of appearances. Likewise the settings happen in a number of different places and centuries.
Without giving anything away, I will say that the stories I liked were excellent. The ones I wasn't crazy about felt more like gory porn than true horror and lacked depth. In the less-than-great stories the Cenobites were just gross-looking, sex-mutants; more yucky than frightening. Fortunately the good stories here vastly outweigh the weaker ones. Feb 03, Haralambi Markov rated it really liked it Shelves: The stories speak for themselves, but I feel compelled to summarize the experience for me.
As a writer and an idea person I am drawn to concepts. A world with these demonic beings and their hellish puzzles, chains and torture vomits bile and viscera, standing in stark contrast to other horror titles. This was the original torture porn horror, which now has found solid soil with series like Saw and Hostel.
Hell has never looked crueler and at first glance the formula seems rather limiting to explore by others. Given that the authors assembled here had to work with the intellectual material of someone else to me presented a great challenge and the result is more than pleasing. Horror itself as a genre is vast and so are the techniques to achieve the desired sense of fear, which on its own has many nuances. From blood stopping cold in the veins to the hopeless desperation to the stomach twisting revulsion fear, a person can experience a myriad of frights and the twenty one authors explore this wide range.
At any rate this is not a book that people with weak psyches or bowels can stomach easily. Sep 25, Nely rated it really liked it Shelves: Hellbound Hearts is an anthology celebrating Hellraiser creator Clive Barker and the world he created with his novella The Hellbound Heart. The collection also features a foreword by Barker himself, who also painted the spooky, original cover. This book is a treat for any horror fan. These are all twisted, gory and scary stories - that I will admit to having to watch some happy tv before hitting the sack because I was that spooked.
Although not all the authors were known to me - I found it a good introduction to their work. I enjoyed all the stories - some more than others. I loved every second of it. Sep 18, Britta rated it really liked it.
The Hellbound Heart - Wikipedia
A delightfully sick and twisted little collection of short stories inspired, more or less, by the Hellraiser mythos. Varying degrees of quality and of horror, with a few only hinting at horror, like the final tale in which a typhoon sweeps away a young prostitute, and others engaging in all-out Hellraiser torture sequences. The most frightening, oddly enough, are the ones that are the least inspired by Hellbound Hearts, and I still find myself shivering at a tale of mechanical transcendence gone A delightfully sick and twisted little collection of short stories inspired, more or less, by the Hellraiser mythos.
The most frightening, oddly enough, are the ones that are the least inspired by Hellbound Hearts, and I still find myself shivering at a tale of mechanical transcendence gone awry. From nuns fleeing willingly into Cenobite arms to living gardens of Cenobite limbs, Hellbound Hearts is a very welcome addition to the Hellraiser mythos, and perhaps the perfect continuation of the original story. Nov 14, Alyssa Acula rated it really liked it Shelves: Dark and insanely twisted and a lot of trigger warnings apply--especially for rape, violence, abuse of both child and women, torture, and a bunch of other gory stuff that one should be prepared for before delving into a story.
The more graphic ones definitely made my skin crawl. Certain pieces shone though as precious gems with their uniqueness, amidst the pile of torture porn filled stories, resembling the style of classic fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, and those typical of The NoSleep Po Dark and insanely twisted and a lot of trigger warnings apply--especially for rape, violence, abuse of both child and women, torture, and a bunch of other gory stuff that one should be prepared for before delving into a story. Certain pieces shone though as precious gems with their uniqueness, amidst the pile of torture porn filled stories, resembling the style of classic fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm, and those typical of The NoSleep Podcast narrations.
Those were my absolute favorites. As this was inspired by Clive Barker's work 'The Hellbound Heart', and the Hellraiser movies, there were a lot of allusions to those that I completely didn't get as I onle became aware of those when I read the Intro and Afterword of this collection. Jan 15, Josh rated it liked it. This book was like a date that was started because of OkCupid. It starts out well and you're really excited to see where it goes. But, then it becomes a chore.
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You find yourself wondering if perhaps Stephanie Meyer has responded to your tweet. Perhaps you should really call your mother. Then there's that knitting habit you picked up for a nanosecond 3 weeks ago. Overall, this is one of those books you read as a palate cleanser. Leave it on the nightstand and come back to it occasionally. Don't m This book was like a date that was started because of OkCupid.
Don't make this the full-time book. It was good overall, but just got extremely repetitive. Hence my recommendation to read a story a month or so. Apr 22, Richard Rich rated it really liked it.
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Great collection of short stories based on the mythos created by Clive Barker in his novella The Hellbound Heart- well, all but three of the stories, but even those were pretty interesting. Of the whole collection there were only three that I didn't like not the three mentioned previously but they were not so bad that they ruined the overall experience. Sep 21, Frederick Bodine rated it really liked it.
Most of the stories were awesome! About 3 disappointed me but not to the point of wishing I did not read them just not relatable to me personally! I might check out some of the authors other works because of this book. Aug 20, Amelia rated it it was amazing. Amelia Interested in more book reviews? Check out my blog Bookworms Unite! I love Clive Barker. There were quite a few that caught my attention and held it without pause until I had finished it, but the one that sticks out most prominently after having read all of them, is Every Wrong Turn by Tim Lebbon.
Tim Lebbon is a veteran dark fantasy and horror writer. All in all, the man knows his way about short story, horror fiction, and the mythos that Barker created with The Hellbound Heart was perfect or Lebbon to work and expand in his own way. Every Wrong Turn is a story about a man—who remains unnamed—exploring a labyrinth that shows him all the sins he has committed through his lifetime. He sees himself beating and raping his wife Michelle, killing a so-called friend that he thought was a charlatan, abandoning his daughter Jenny, and more.
While we see little about the above mentioned characters, we get a good, long look at the unnamed main character. We see his past transgressions and loath him for it. But so does her. He wants to—needs to—be punished for them so that he might have some sort of peace in his life. The location of the piece takes place entirely within some sort of ethereal labyrinth, created long ago by a man who then became lost in his creation.
The labyrinth holds the pasts of everyone who enters, and as you move further into it, your sins are shown to you: The labyrinth is a very interesting place for this story to take place.
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Is it an alternate dimension? A delusion of a crazy mind? Perhaps a glimpse into the future, or your life flashing before your eyes before you die. My final thoughts on Every Wrong Turn are that Lebbon created one hell of a short story. Strangely, it was not my favourite one within the collection, but it is the one that is staying with me the most.
There was just something about the way the unnamed main character is forced to explore his dark memories that… well, disturbed me. There was no puzzle box, no classic Cenobites to speak of, but what the character experienced terrified me more than Cenobites ever have! Interested in more book reviews? Jun 27, Guillermo rated it really liked it. Despite Barkers obvious protests against using the term mythos to describe the hell he created, that is what it's become. It has spread throughout the world inspiring authors and artists alike to add to it, much like the Cthulhu mythos of H.
From film sequels to comic books to short stories, Hellrasier fandom has grown in number, and continues to grow, leaving only one question to spark a smile amongst our faces, "What's your pleasure? So with that saying, when Hellbound Hearts was first released, I knew I must own it. But I had to play it cool, I didn't want to get my hopes up only to be delivered to pieces that resemble fanfic than anything worth while. With a foreword by the man himself, Clive Barker, and an afterward by the Cenobite himself, Doug Bradley, I finally click purchased on Amazon and waited for the book to be delivered.
Writing horror and the body: Contributions to the study of popular culture. Clive Barker 's Hellraiser.
Hellbound Hearts
Works by Clive Barker. Gone The Scarlet Gospels. The Great and Secret Show Everville. Hellraiser Nightbreed Lord of Illusions. Underworld Rawhead Rex Hellbound: Retrieved from " https: Views Read Edit View history. This page was last edited on 14 August , at By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Horror , gothic fiction. November , Dark Harvest, HarperCollins. Print Hardcover , Audiobook. New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong logs on to a disturbing website for gamers, where the challenge is agonizing, and the solution beyond painful.
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