Then, Midian.: seanan

Then, Midian.

We are all of us built from the materials we had close to hand when we were children. Fairy tales and songs and pop culture icons and whatever books our parents left on low shelves; comic books and liturgy and playground rhymes and media. Give twenty children access to the same cultural touchstones and they'll come away with twenty different sets of internal stories, building twenty distinct foundations. It's pretty amazing.

For me, one of those foundational texts was a novella called "Cabal," written by a man named Clive Barker, that told the story of Boone, who believed himself a monster, and Lori, who loved him anyway, and Midian, where the monsters were. I wanted Midian more than I wanted anything else, for a long time. I wanted the necropolis, the drums in the dark, and the tribes of the air with the moon inside. I wanted to go home. Everything about the story told me that if I could just find Midian, I would be home.

There was a movie: Nightbreed, which wound up equally, if not identically, foundational. And then there was a long, long time with no clear route to Midian...until I was asked if I wanted to participate in an authorized anthology of stories set in that world. Stories about going home.

Midian Unmade: Tales of Clive Barker's Nightbreed is available today from a bookstore near you. (If it isn't available in your region, remember that Borderlands Books in San Francisco will happily ship.) My story, "The Moon Inside," is the first anchor for a book filled with wonder, and sorrow, and people I am proud to call my friends and peers.

This is the first paragraph:

"Once, Midian. Once, the caves carved from the living rock, the warrens and rabbit-runs like veins through the flesh of the earth. Once, a world lived in constant descent, down, down, ever down, until it seemed that one day in their expansion they would strike the hot molten core of the world, where magma flowed like the blood of Baphomet. Once, safety. Once, home."

Home.

I am so proud, and so honored, to be a part of building something that created my own foundations.

I hope you will enjoy it.

vulpine137

July 28 2015, 16:55:26 UTC 1 year ago

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Yay for fellow Midianites, and thanks for the reminder that Unmade came out today. Perfect timing, as I finished my current read last night, and am feeling out of sorts and separated from the meat..err humans ;)

seanan_mcguire

July 28 2015, 17:28:01 UTC 1 year ago

Remember that it's rude to eat your neighbors.

1 year ago

sylphon

July 28 2015, 17:37:07 UTC 1 year ago

Very cool! I am always amazed at how many people have never heard of Midian! Such a grand universe Clive Barker built.

July 28 2015, 20:06:14 UTC 1 year ago

Absolutely.

lysystratae

July 28 2015, 19:23:44 UTC 1 year ago

Now I have to email a dozen friends to make sure they know.

July 28 2015, 20:06:25 UTC 1 year ago

Woo!

khaybee

July 28 2015, 20:30:40 UTC 1 year ago

So very happy for you. And for Clive, who was kind to me.

July 30 2015, 00:37:42 UTC 1 year ago

Yay!

tenaya_owlcat

July 28 2015, 21:00:11 UTC 1 year ago

I haven't read much Clive Barker, but this sounds awesome!

BTW, I recommended your fiction to a literature professor at UC Davis today during a meeting. He's going to check it out. He sounded really interested in the Parasitology books. :)

July 30 2015, 00:37:55 UTC 1 year ago

Oh, thank you!

apestyle

July 28 2015, 22:25:49 UTC 1 year ago

I can't wait to pick this up.

July 30 2015, 00:38:05 UTC 1 year ago

melchar

July 28 2015, 22:28:07 UTC 1 year ago

I'll look for this! And let others know about this cool anthology.

July 30 2015, 00:38:13 UTC 1 year ago

Awesome, thanks.

rhodielady_47

July 29 2015, 00:38:11 UTC 1 year ago

I've often wished that they'd do a re-make of that movie and this time not leave so much of it on the cutting room floor!
Midian calls to a lot of us--probably far more that modern society would be happy to find out.
Thanks for letting us know about the book--I'll be looking for a copy of it.
:^)

July 30 2015, 00:38:35 UTC 1 year ago

Did you pick up the Cabal Cut from Shout Factory?

Deleted comment

July 30 2015, 00:38:43 UTC 1 year ago

lyssabard

July 29 2015, 10:21:50 UTC 1 year ago

OMG YES.
This post makes my young heart ache. and I am buying this book immediately, grateful that it exists.

Thank you!

July 30 2015, 00:38:51 UTC 1 year ago

So very welcome.

adafrog

July 29 2015, 17:29:43 UTC 1 year ago

Cool.

July 30 2015, 00:38:57 UTC 1 year ago

Yes.

jammiesest

July 30 2015, 02:41:46 UTC 1 year ago

OMFD! THERE IS A BPAL PERFUME FOR MIDIAN!

Seanan, did you know about this? I am DEAD and my wallet is DEADER!

::does crazed otter flail::

August 1 2015, 16:06:29 UTC 1 year ago

There is?! Is it discontinued? I can't find it on the site!

tibicina

mysterysquid

July 30 2015, 12:27:32 UTC 1 year ago

Oh wow. :D

I really need to track down that new cut of the movie. I always wanted a copy of the tie-in book with portraits of all of the Nightbreed and their stories.

August 1 2015, 16:06:41 UTC 1 year ago

It's amazing.

prunesquallormd

August 4 2015, 18:43:44 UTC 1 year ago

♥

I've been waiting for Midian Unmade since I first saw the listing for it on Amazon. I had no idea that you had a story in it but I'm so glad you do. That's a wonderful opening :)

November 10 2015, 15:33:09 UTC 1 year ago

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Then, Midian.

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