Weaveworld (by sarah)
I follow Clive Baker's page on Facebook and he/his admin posted a piece on concept art surrounding his novel Weaveworld which is my favourite of his books and one I found important in my development as a reader and writer.
I read Weaveworld when I was thirteen/fourteen - it was a struggle and it was the second of what I think of as full length novels that I read, the first being The Eight. I pretty much had been on point horrors until then. I picked it up on a second hand book stall in Romford market whilst out with my friends Helen and Nikki - It was dark and scary and romantic and lovely and enchanting and it introduced me to Literature - before each section there are quotes and many of these I fell in love with and wrote out into my diary with illustrations, they are from the text book greats but at the time I had never heard of them, it was also the first time I saw poetry coupled so intensely with the prose of a book.
The story made me hungry for more stories and I moved on the James Herbert and Stephen King and Anne McCaffrey and a mirrade of others but the quotes made me want these other things and so I found a plethora of ancient and not so ancient writings that resonated with me and I began trying to craft complex multi-threaded stories, to think of stories within stories and to realise there a wealth of legends and histories around the globe I could 'steal' for my own writing. I would walk home from school with my nose stuck in these books and sleep on the floor of my bedroom as I'd filled the bed up with books from the school library, town library, charity shops and friends. I would set myself the task of reading more and more each day - I was in love with words and stories which had so recently been nothing but the bain of my life.
The memories of this washed over me as I saw the post on facebook. I am sitting here with the book that I last read at 21 - it has been lent to a lot of people and is starting to fall to pieces but I am wondering what I will make of it now? The way I used to choose books from the second hand book stall was to go in and close my eyes and see what book 'called to me' - this yielded a jem everytime though this is probably because I was always starting off in the speculative fiction (Horror, scifi, fantasy) section, The first book I got via this process was The Eight which years later proved to be a wonderous cross over of reading between me and Alaric. I love books - I now have a shelf devoted to Clive. I should read Weaveworld again.
Mon 13th May 2013 8:03 pm 
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By Kev Sparrow, Mon 13th May 2013 @ 8:21 pm
I really started with Fantasy, especially loving Tolkien, but I read a whole load of Fantasy when I was 13-15, loved the genre. Unfortunately most of my peers never really saw the 'light', as it were and I was always on my own with this love of reading. I think Sarah that I worshipped Fantasy fiction at that age.
By sarah, Tue 14th May 2013 @ 8:44 am
I read all the libraries had 🙂 But most people just thought I was odd I think though I used to get other kids sidling up to ask about the current book in my pocket as they'd read something else by the author and stuff but that was rare - there was a bully that used to try and steal them and throw them in the bin which sucked.
By Tim, Mon 27th May 2013 @ 2:02 am
Interesting - I tried to read that a while ago and gave up on it due to lack of interest (something I rarely do). Suggests it might be worth a second attempt.
By sarah, Thu 13th Jun 2013 @ 8:42 am
It is not a light read but worth it