“The Inhuman Condition” (1985)

Most Clive Barker stories are a little too long, and this is no exception, but most Clive Barker stories also have ingenious premises and details, and this is no exception on that score either. It starts with a Clockwork Orange style beatdown by a gang of youths of a homeless old man they find urinating beside a tunnel. They’re doing it for the kicks. He has nothing of value but they make him empty his pockets anyway. The least malicious of the four youths, Karney—he usually gets the lookout duties on their escapades—finds a knotted length of rope among the debris. It turns out Karney is fascinated by knots the way others are by great historical enigmas or knitting. He keeps the rope with him and starts to worry one of the three knots obsessively. When he’s not doing that he’s thinking about doing that, and looking forward to getting back to it. I know this kind of obsessive fascination and am vulnerable to states like it over things like anagrams, the impossible (for me) Rubik’s Cube, some video games, and formerly jigsaw puzzles before I started living with cats. I’ve had some interest in knots too for that matter, but they frustrate me too quickly. Maybe these obsessions are common, or maybe not, but I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered them laid out so lucidly before. Of course it turns out the guy they were beating up (named Pope) is some kind of wizard or something, who has trapped monsters inside the knots. I know, hard to believe. They’re good monsters too. Barker has a knack for them. You wouldn’t think there could be so many. They are certainly original. Fresh? I’m not as sure about that, because as impressive as Barker’s visions are they too often seem to devolve into chase scenes and explanations. Too much service is paid to a narrative arc and setups for monsters on the loose in bad need of corralling. But I love things like focusing so intensely on a fascination with knots and a knotted length of rope. Barker may not be writing great or even good short stories, but he is writing great original horror all the same. It’s not hard to see how people like Stephen King got excited and started talking about Barker being the future of horror.

Clive Barker, Books of Blood, Vols. 1-6 (Vol. 4 kindle)
Story not available online.