1/6/2024 0 Comments Hell raiser mackupThis story originally started life as ‘Heaven’s Reply’ an unfinished short by Barker, which morphed into the script for the unmade Hellraiser movie reboot. And this is where in a convoluted way I finally get to reviewing Hellraiser: The Toll. The odd reissue of a short story, several impressive comic/graphic novel series and some unreleased early material saw the light of day, but the biggest surprise of all was a new story from the Hellraiser canon. Since Barker’s illness, sadly his output has dropped to near zero. The book that killed off Pinhead, the High Priest, the Cold Man was a bit of a damp squib, it lacked Barker! Maybe I’d been looking forward to Scarlet Gospels too much, my expectations were too high, but I felt empty once I’d snapped the book shut. I don’t care if you are reading Imajica, Books of Blood or Abarat, you knew it was Clive Barker writing irrespective of who the target audience was. What I do want to say about the book now, is that it did not read as if Clive Barker wrote it! Some of the imagery and set pieces felt very ‘Clive’ but the writing style was anything but. The story of Scarlet Gospels has been covered many times before, and is something I think I may return to at some point in the future. This was Clive’s 2015 novel that was nigh on 20 years in the making. I’ve had a lot of discussions with Barker fans about the Scarlet Gospels, the book that dared to kill off Pinhead. No one writes like Barker, eloquence personified, his writing poetic, at times hypnotising, beautiful world building and often taking readers from the very depths of despair to the ultimate euphoric high. Barker’s writing captivates me like no other author. I’m not suggesting I’m more qualified than anyone else to form an opinion on Barker and his work, it’s a simple fact to set the scene, to give you an idea of where I’m coming from. ![]() I have collected Barker’s work since I was 13, I’ve spent 32 years reading anything of his I can get my hands on. No one write I make no apologies for considering myself a hardcore fan of, in my opinion, one of the greatest fantasy/horror writers that has ever been. I make no apologies for considering myself a hardcore fan of, in my opinion, one of the greatest fantasy/horror writers that has ever been. With equal parts economy and eloquence, author Mark Alan Miller brings to life the beginning of the end as The Toll expands the Hellraiser universe, and shows that before Harry D'Amour's adventures in The Scarlet Gospels, there was a first witness to Pinhead's infernal plan.more Her actions stir something unnamable in the ether, and throw her into a game where nothing - not even what she sees in front of her very eyes - can be trusted. Every few years she fashions a new name, a new identity, and a new home for herself She is a woman who is running from her past at all costs, which is why it comes as such a surprise when she receives a mysterious letter in the mail, addressed to the woman she's been running from over half her life.Īnswering the letter's query, she begins a descent down a rabbit hole to the ultimate confrontation. Thirty years after Kristy Cotton escaped from the clutches of the Hell Priest, Pinhead, and lived to fight another day, her life has never been the same. ![]() Every few years she fashions a new name, a new identity, and a new home Hellraiser: The Toll tells the story of what happened between Clive Barker's iconic works The Hellbound Heart and its follow up, The Scarlet Gospels. Hellraiser: The Toll tells the story of what happened between Clive Barker's iconic works The Hellbound Heart and its follow up, The Scarlet Gospels.
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