The Thief of Always
Encyclopedia
The Thief of Always is a novel by Clive Barker
that was published in 1992
.
It is a fable
written for children, but is intended for adults as well. The book contains many black and white drawing
s by the author, and the cover illustrated by the author. His official site has an extensive online gallery of all The Thief of Always illustrations.
The Thief of Always starts out by introducing Harvey Swick. Harvey Swick is a 10-year-old kid who finds himself bored with school, uninteresting teachers, homework, and his day-to-day life. One day, a man named Rictus flies up to Harvey's window and tells him about a kid’s paradise, the Holiday House. At the Holiday House, there are all the sweets a person could ask for, four seasons in a day, Christmas every day, Halloween every night, and everything else you could dream of. Harvey reluctantly goes to the house after a week of thinking, and enters the house through a wall of mist. Harvey enjoys the wonders of Holiday House, and stays there for ten days, becoming friends with Wendell and Lulu, two other kids at the house. However, he eventually starts to suspect that the house is not as perfect as it seems. Upon investigation, Harvey discovers that the house's creator, Mr. Hood, has taken all the children who came before him and imprisoned them in a dark, gloomy lake. After that, Harvey and Wendell are trapped in the house, and escape by following a cat named Blue-Cat through the mist barrier that constantly surrounds the property of the house at night.
Harvey and Wendell soon discover that for every day they spend in Holiday House, a year has passed in the rest of the world. They decide that the only way to regain their lost time is to return to Holiday House. Upon doing so, Harvey learns that Hood runs the entire house on magic and illusions. Harvey defeats Hood by tricking him into using up all of his magic by wishing for as many things as he can think of as fast as he can, to drain Hood's power. When an exhausted Hood allows Harvey one more wish, Harvey asks for all the seasons at once, resulting in a furious lightning storm that burns down the house. Hood seems to perish in the fire, but he manages to rebuild a body from the debris of the house, and remarks at Harvey's courage, contrasting Harvey with Wendell, who has succumbed to the House's lures and wishes to stay forever in a trance. Hood then offers Harvey, whom he calls A Thief Of Always, to be a vampire with him and be immortal. Harvey refuses, and this final confrontation ends when Hood is knocked into the lake, which has turned into a vortex (or whirlpool) and sucks him in. The children all leave the remains of the house to go back to their respective times. http://www.clivebarker.info/yathiefbk.html
.
A live action
adaptation of the novel was negotiated between Seraphim Films and 20th Century Fox
on or before August 4, 2004. According to the IMDB, the movie was scheduled for release in 2010.
Clive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
that was published in 1992
1992 in literature
The year 1992 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Ben Aaronovitch - Transit*Julia Álvarez - How the García Girls Lost Their Accents*Paul Auster - Leviathan*Iain Banks - The Crow Road...
.
It is a fable
Fable
A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...
written for children, but is intended for adults as well. The book contains many black and white drawing
Drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art that makes use of any number of drawing instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Common instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoal, chalk, pastels, markers, styluses, and various metals .An artist who...
s by the author, and the cover illustrated by the author. His official site has an extensive online gallery of all The Thief of Always illustrations.
The Thief of Always starts out by introducing Harvey Swick. Harvey Swick is a 10-year-old kid who finds himself bored with school, uninteresting teachers, homework, and his day-to-day life. One day, a man named Rictus flies up to Harvey's window and tells him about a kid’s paradise, the Holiday House. At the Holiday House, there are all the sweets a person could ask for, four seasons in a day, Christmas every day, Halloween every night, and everything else you could dream of. Harvey reluctantly goes to the house after a week of thinking, and enters the house through a wall of mist. Harvey enjoys the wonders of Holiday House, and stays there for ten days, becoming friends with Wendell and Lulu, two other kids at the house. However, he eventually starts to suspect that the house is not as perfect as it seems. Upon investigation, Harvey discovers that the house's creator, Mr. Hood, has taken all the children who came before him and imprisoned them in a dark, gloomy lake. After that, Harvey and Wendell are trapped in the house, and escape by following a cat named Blue-Cat through the mist barrier that constantly surrounds the property of the house at night.
Harvey and Wendell soon discover that for every day they spend in Holiday House, a year has passed in the rest of the world. They decide that the only way to regain their lost time is to return to Holiday House. Upon doing so, Harvey learns that Hood runs the entire house on magic and illusions. Harvey defeats Hood by tricking him into using up all of his magic by wishing for as many things as he can think of as fast as he can, to drain Hood's power. When an exhausted Hood allows Harvey one more wish, Harvey asks for all the seasons at once, resulting in a furious lightning storm that burns down the house. Hood seems to perish in the fire, but he manages to rebuild a body from the debris of the house, and remarks at Harvey's courage, contrasting Harvey with Wendell, who has succumbed to the House's lures and wishes to stay forever in a trance. Hood then offers Harvey, whom he calls A Thief Of Always, to be a vampire with him and be immortal. Harvey refuses, and this final confrontation ends when Hood is knocked into the lake, which has turned into a vortex (or whirlpool) and sucks him in. The children all leave the remains of the house to go back to their respective times. http://www.clivebarker.info/yathiefbk.html
Adaptations
The Thief of Always has been adapted as a bimonthly 3-part comic book, published between January 2005 and May 2005 by IDW PublishingIDW Publishing
IDW Publishing, also known as Idea + Design Works, LLC and IDW, is an American publisher of comic books and comic strip collections. The company was founded in 1999 and has been awarded the title "Publisher of the Year Under 5% Market Share" for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 by Diamond Comic...
.
A live action
Live action
In filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
adaptation of the novel was negotiated between Seraphim Films and 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
on or before August 4, 2004. According to the IMDB, the movie was scheduled for release in 2010.
External links
- Revelations - The Official Clive Barker Online Resource - Includes a full bibliography, filmography and frequently updated news.
- The Beautiful Moment - The Official Clive Barker Website for All Ages - Official site celebrating the work of Clive Barker for younger readers - features Abarat and The Thief of Always.