Books by Clive Barker Galilee Forms of Heaven Sacrament ...

encap?sulated answer to that question, but I will offer here whatclues I can. To begin with, I have an
abiding interest in thenotion of parallel dimensions, and the influence they may exercise over the lives we
live in this world. I don't doubtthat the reality we occupy is but one of many; that a lateralstep would
deliver us into a place quite other. Perhaps our lives are also going on in these other dimensions, changed
in vast or subtle ways. Or perhaps these other places will be unrecognizable to us: they'll be realms of
spirit, or wonder?lands, or hells. Perhaps all of the above. Imajica is an at?tempt to create a narrative
which explores thosepossibilities.
It is also a book about Christ. People are constantly sur?prised that the figure of Jesus is of such
importance to me.They look at The Hellbound Heart or at some of the stories in The Books of Blood
and take me for a pagan who viewsChristianity as a pretty distraction from the business of suf?fering and
dying. There is some truth in this. I certainly findthe hypocritical cant and derisive dogmas of organized
reli?gion grotesque and oftentimes inhumane. Plainly the Vati?can, for instance, cares more for its own
authority than forthe planet and the flock that grazes upon it. But the my?thology that is still barely visible
beneath the centuries-oldencrustation of power plays and rituals—the story of Jesusthe crucified and
resurrected; the shaman healer whowalked on water and raised Lazarus—is as moving to me asany story
I have ever heard.
I found Christ as I found Dionysus or Coyote, throughart. Blake showed him to me; so did Bellini and
Gerard
x CLIVE BARKER
Manley Hopkins, and half a hundred others, each artist of?fering his or her own particular interpretation.
And from very early on I wanted to find a way to write about Jesusmyself; to fold his presence into a
story of my own inven?tion. It proved difficult. Most fantastique fiction has drawn inspiration from a
pre-Christian world, retrieving fromFaery, or Atlantis, or dreams of a Celtic twilight creatures that never
heard of Communion. There's nothing wrongwith that, of course, but it always left me wondering if these
authors weren't willfully denying their Christian roots out of frustration or disappointment. Having had no
religiouseducation, 1 harbored no such disappointment: I was drawn to the Christ figure as I was to Pan
or Shiva, because thestories and images enlightened and enriched me. Christ is,after all, the central figure
of Western mythology. I wanted to feel that my self-created pantheon could accomodate him, that my
inventions were not too brittle to bear theweight of his presence.
I was further motivated by a desire to snatch this most complex and contradictory mystery from the
clammyhands of the men who have claimed it for their own in re? cent years, especially here in America.
The Falwells and the Robertsons, who, mouthing piety and sowing hatred,use the Bible to justify their
plots against our self-discov? ery. Jesus does not belong to them. And it pains me thatmany imaginative
people are so persuaded by these claims to possession that they turn their backs on the body ofWestern
mysticism instead of reclaiming Christ for them? selves. 1 said in an interview once (and meant it) that
thePope, or Falwell, or a thousand others, may announce that God talks to them, instructs them, shows
them the GrandPlan, but that the Creator talks to me just as loudly, just as cogently, through the images
and ideas He, She, or It hasseeded in my imagination.
That said, I must tell you that the deeper I gotintowrit?ing Imajica, the more certain I became that
completing itwas beyond me. I have never come closer to giving up as Icame on this book, never
doubted more deeply my skills as a storyteller, was never more lost, never more afraid. But
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