When I read, I tend to be a bit tentative about new stuff, not wanting to devote a lot of time to a book I'll end up not liking. But when I find an author, I devour everything he or she put out on the market. For a while, I read nothing but Clive Barker. Good lord he can get dark.
He put out a fantastic collection of short stories called Books of Blood. I probably could have chosen any one of those to illustrate, but Pig Blood Blues seemed to lend itself most to my strengths.
Set in a juvenile detention facility, a former police man starts working there and notices rumors of ghosts and missing children. He attempts to help an overly bullied little boy, and as things spiral further into dark regions, he finds himself watching children worship a giant pig. He attempts to save the boy from the pig, and ends up a sacrifice himself.
Now imagine that rambling synopsis presented coherently, believably and poetically. Disturbing shit.
