This is not the set-up for a joke: did you hear that Clive Barker is writing children's books? Next month Abarat, the first volume of a planned four-book fantasy series, will be available in bookstores. Look out, J.K. Rowling! The cool thing about Clive is that he's not only a writer, but a damned good artist as well. One hundred original paintings will illustrate October's release, some of which you can get a sneak peak at here. I didn't realize this at first, but Abarat will not be the author's first foray into "children's fantasy" (I don't approve of the term, because it assumes that children aren't ready for the real thing, which is patently absurd. What about Grimm's Fairy Tales, for crying out loud? Trying to keep our children free from any exposure to life's darker side for their own so-called good will inevitably screw them up even worse in the long run, as a generation of American parents attempting to raise their kids in culturally-sanitized bubbles are doubtless going to learn) - Clive Barker's 1992 book The Thief of Always, another illustrated book, was extremely well-received, though I haven't had the good fortune to read it yet. Might just have to snag a copy, via the magic of Interlibrary Borrowing. Because that's what I do.