The British-born Barker is widely-recognized as the leading current practitioner of the fantastique. Writer Stephen King once acknowledged Barker’s talent, calling him “so good that I am almost literally tongue-tied. He makes the rest of us look like we’ve been asleep for the past ten years.” His “sequel” to Poe’s classic tale of detection, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, focuses on the horrific implications and repressed sexuality of the original tale as experienced by a descendant of Poe’s detective Dupin. New Murders in the Rue Morgue was specially-illustrated for Graphic Classics: Edgar Allan Poe by one of Clive's favorite artists, Mark Nelson. The story originally appeared in Books of Blood, the 1984 collection of short stories that first made Barker famous. He has since published twenty books, moving from the horror genre into fantasy, drama, and erotica. The eclectic author has also written plays, children’s books, and has directed feature films based on his stories, including the first in the popular Hellraiser series.

Clive is also an accomplished artist, and is working on a narrative series of oil paintings, currently 280, depicting the tale of sixteen-year-old Candy Quackenbush in the mystical land of Abarat. His latest book is a Hollywood ghost story, Coldheart Canyon.