Midian Unmade: Tales of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed

Most of the 22 stories in this tribute to Clive Barker’s novel and film Cabal successfully evoke the feelings of loneliness and persecution that motivate that story’s race of monstrous others, the Nightbreed, after humans destroy their homeland, Midian. In Seanan McGuire’s “The Moon Inside,” a teen member of the breed is drawn to teen Naturals—normal humans—who also feel that they’re outsiders. Both David J. Schow’s “Collector” and Lilith Saintcrow’s “Bait and Switch” feature Nightbreed who discover the cruelty of humans while serving as carnival attractions. In Weston Ochse’s “The Devil Until the Credits Roll,” rampant human evil prompts one of the Nightbreed to observe that “when a monster is a monster he’s being true to his nature. When a human is a monster it’s far worse.” References to characters and plot points from Barker’s original may puzzle those not familiar with it, but the juxtapositions of monstrous humans and humanized monsters will register with fans of thought-provoking horror. (July)