Read the first two chapters of Clive Barker's SCARLET GOSPELS

It's been a while since I checked in with Clive Barker. He was one of those authors I adored as a teen, but our sensibilities gradually drifted apart over the years.His upcoming novel promises a return to his roots, though. THE SCARLET GOSPELS pits Barker's paranormal investigator Harry D'Amour (of "The Last Illusion" and "Everville") against the author's most notorious creations, the Cenobites from "The Hellbound Heart."

Here's an official plot synopsis:

"The Scarlet Gospels takes readers back many years to the early days of two of Barker's most iconic characters in a battle of good and evil as old as time: The long-beleaguered detective Harry D'Amour, investigator of all supernatural, magical, and malevolent crimes faces off against his formidable, and intensely evil rival, Pinhead, the priest of hell. Barker devotees have been waiting for The Scarlet Gospels with bated breath for years, and it's everything they've begged for and more. Bloody, terrifying, and brilliantly complex, fans and newcomers alike will not be disappointed by the epic, visionary tale that is The Scarlet Gospels. Barker's horror will make your worst nightmares seem like bedtime stories. The Gospels are coming. Are you ready?"

The publisher has made the first two chapters of THE SCARLET GOSPELS available as a free excerpt, which you can download as a PDF file by clicking HERE. There's an audiobook excerpt of the novel below.

THE SCARLET GOSPELS is slated for a hardcover release on May 19.