CREEMEDIA

CLIVE BARKER�S BOOKS OF BLOOD, VOLUMES I—III by Clive Barker (Berkley)

There's something to be said for explicitness. This morning on the news I saw a story about a group in Alabama which won a court case in their ongoing effort to have religion �restored� to the public schools, particularly in the history classes where, they say, God has become a non-Person and the glories of His Earthly hierarchy remain unsung. To which, remembering how godawfully dull my own history classes were, I sigh amen. What's needed to juice up school days are history books that evoke the crackle and pungent smell of heretics burning flesh, the stomachchurning details of genocidal holy wars, the unwholesome alliance between churches and blood-thirsty military regimes, the awesome sight of huge burning crosses throwing their ghastly light on lynched, mutilated bodies... This is only part of the story, of course (there�s much niceness to report, too) but one has to be thankful for the good and brave Alabamians� willingness to open this Pandora�s box during these censorious times.