Weaveworld

That antique rug on the floor over there. What if a secret world is hidden within its countless knots and dyed threads? What if a fraying corner lets lose a creature trapped within? What if you step on it just so… and slip into a hidden world?

I read Weaveworld back in high school, shortly after it came out. It was my first Clive Barker novel and first adult, Alice in Wonderland-style, hidden world novel. I picked it up on a whim, and that whim changed the course of my life in many ways. I began writing in my… show more.

Just the very thought of this book makes me excited. Clive Barker loves to go beyond horror, reaching into what I call ‘the fantastic’, and Weaveworld offers the best of that. I always recommend this book to those new to his writing.

Barker uses crude, brutal words in his horror, giving it a hard edge, but in this book, although there is still plenty of horror, it’s wrapped up in a world of enchantment with fairies and demons. Initially, this enchanted world had been weaved into a carpet to preserve it, rolled up and hidden in an attic, but of… show more.