The Weirdest Epic Fantasy Ever Written

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Listen. Not every fantasy book you read is going to be Tolkien or Sanderson. Some of them have things like parents who are still alive and magic that doesn’t crackle with actinic light. Some of them might not have magic at all. And stranger than all of these, some may have very real, very visceral things like sex in them.

Imajica is one such book.

In fact, it’s a weird fantasy book in a lot of ways. But the weirdest of them all is how deeply and how directly it cuts into the heart of what it means to have a healthy relationship with your own creativity. Sex is just one form of magic is uses to explore that.

So although we may not be talking explicitly about all the explicit stuff in this video, I still recommend you buckle up. Imajica is not like other fantasy stories. Not even a little.

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[TheTaleFoundry]

Go see our COMPANION VIDEO for this one! There’s some… really weird stuff we had to leave out of this one, trust me it’s worth it.


Sign up for a year of Curiosity Stream with the code TALEFOUNDRY to get a free year of access to our new creator-run streaming platform, Nebula, where the companion video is hosted! All for less than $15 PER YEAR! Not per month, PER YEAR!

[santiagoacosta]

"fish people start to bang with everyone"
Lovecraft's biggest nightmare

[elemonade]

"Fish people come out of the sea and ...start mating with everyone... Fine.".
That literally made me choke lmao.

[tunguskalumberjack]

I’ve read 95% of Clive Barker’s books, and he’s been a favorite author of mine since around 1988. I love horror, but I don’t read only horror, as my tastes are pretty eclectic. This book itself can’t be pinned down as just a single genre, and it’s wonderful for that fact. It’s beautiful, and so full of amazing characters and situations, and emotion. It came out when I was in the 10th grade (1991), and I got it right away. Since then, I read the twelfth chapter of the book every Christmas, as back then I didn’t have many friends and it was an escape for me to enjoy the Christmas party as if I was there. It’s a melancholy exercise, but I still look forward to it every year. Thanks so much for giving people the introduction to this fantastic piece of work.

[arcadiaberger]

This blast that goes all the way around the circle reminds me of the century-old picture book, *_The Hole Book, _* which has a hole drilled _almost_ all the way through it:
A boy plays with a gun and fires off a bullet, and it blows a hole through a wall, passing into the next apartment over, then across the street where it bursts a balloon vendor's wares, then into a pet shop where it inspires a parrot to begin cursing voluminously, and so on, until it hits a young wife's poorly-made cake, which is so dense it stops the bullet -
_Fortunately for Tom Potts, the boy who fired the shot_
_It might have flown clean 'round the world and killed him on the spot!_

[thoughtfuldevil]

Barker is the writer who made me a writer. I literally memorized Hellbound Heart when I was 14, and now, thirteen years later, I've written five books. Only Barker spoke to me on such a visceral level (both literally and emotionally).

[EhiFlowerMask]

As a die hard Barker's fan I am so happy that this video exist. Imajica is a journey, you end up different after reading it. Waiting for Weaveworld.

[douglascollier]

There are writings I've read that have forever altered my life. "Imajica" is one such writing. I've wandered its pages countless times and see my own world through it's tinted windows. To be a "Gentle" man; what a goal in life.

[davymckeown]

Thank you, read this back in the 90's. You got an old man feeling quite nostalgic.

[honoluluwampum]

I'm so sad now that I realized this might have spoilers and I'm STILL and forever reading this book! Weaveworld, on the other hand, I breezed through and it remains one of my favorites. Hell, maybe I'll watch anyway, fantastic video! Love Barker❤❤

[raphaelhemery]

I started reading Imajica thanks to this video. I’m getting through it pretty slowly, but I am absolutely loving it! I adore how, despite the huge scale of the Imajica and its dominions, this is a very personal story for Gentle, Pie and Judith. I really like both high world saving stakes and personal stakes, and I am getting a great mix of both.
Thank you for sharing about this book. I know for a fact that I would have never tried it if not for this video.

[Myytzlplk]

Bought Imajica the day it came out, like every Clive Barker book in my teens. Had only read his horror. This book was maybe the most beautiful piece of art I had encountered at that point in my life. Quite forgotten it til this video. Thank you so much. So very well done

[McCammalot]

I started reading this book at age sixteen. Finished it at forty-three, with a LONG "no thank you" in between that flesh eating mosquito thingie!).

So very glad I got back to it.

[lndcruz]

I distinctly remember reading his Abarat, in large part because of all the colorful illustrations. the world he created was so wild and hard to get into. I liked how you went about explaining Imajica, it sounds like a large commitment but your really focused in on the characters and your analysis

[crime]

It's honestly so hard to watch your videos bc I end up stopping halfway through and reading the book 😭 excellent work

[neildurkee]

Excellent introduction to Imagica. I actually enjoy the presentation and narration that I didn't skip the plug for curiosity stream. I'll be joining that service now, Thanks!

[saeyabor]

12:40 Leave it to Clive Barker to spin that as a detail of a happy ending, as opposed to the basis of the problem in "The Shadow Over Innsmouth"

[Serrichardbaratheon]

I’ve found that as much as Barker is a great horror author, it’s his fantasy writing that I really prefer. This book, as well as “Weaveworld” and my personal all-time favorite, the “Abarat” series, just overshadow his horror writing.

[hestiathena]

The inner struggle described at the end, between the creative and destructive drives, makes me think of the Cherokee tale of the two wolves, light and dark, who endlessly battle inside each human soul.

The version most may know, especially from motivational posters and the like, ends saying that "the one you feed is the one who wins." A version I came across recently changes this to "if you feed them right, they _both_ win."

[felixrowan]

Barker is a fantastic writer. This, the Abarat, Weaveworld. Even his shorter works, like "Mister B. Gone" are a treat. What other book asks you to burn it once you finish reading it?