Waiting for Two Third Books by Clive Barker

As some of you know, my favorite author is Clive Barker. My favorite person Phil introduced me to his writing in 2001 and in less than two years I had read every short story and book Mr. Barker had written. I have since read his plays and his biography. I haven't seen all his movies, but some of them were not as successful in transitioning from page to celluloid.

He wrote an amazing book entitled The Great and Secret Show (1989) which was followed by Everville (1994), announced as the second book in the trilogy of the Art. There has been no third book. Yet.

Some of his latest work is on the world of Abarat. This whole project started with more than 300 oil paintings Mr. Barker created. Disney purchased the whole thing: books, movie(s), and theme park area. There have been two books released with more intended to be released four in total?). The first two were released in 2002 and 2004, respectively. There was a short movie made in 2004, but no word on IMdB about the film. I also cannot find any word on when the third book of the Abarat will be released.

At the end of an interview in 2003, Mr. Barker mentions wanting to get to the third book of the Art and that gives me hope. The plan, according to this interview, was to finish final edits on the second book of the Abarat, then complete an anthology of Hellraiser stories (including a new and final entry into the series), and then move onto the other big projects (one of which is the third book of the Art, the other is another Galilee project).

All this Clive Barker talk has made me wish I brought some of my library over to Ireland with me. I think I will have to do a little used book store hunting in the near future to satisfy this craving, especially because it doesn't look like any new books are coming out in the near future. It might be time for some late-90s Barker...Sacrament? Or Galilee? Guess it will depend on what I can find. You can be sure I will post an update on this topic.