and realised that a horror story anthology didn't need to have narrow themes, consistent tone or restrictions to be considered a proper collection. Instead, the stories could range wildly in genre and tone, from the humorous to the truly horrific. Volumes I-III are sold as "The Books of Blood". Volume IV is sold as "The Inhuman Condition". Volume V is sold as "In the Flesh". And Volume VI is sold as "Cabal", which either includes four or five additional short stories, depending on the edition. For some editions, Clive Barker illustrated the book covers. Story list and synopses Volume One "The Book of Blood" The first story of Volume 1 acts as an introduction to the premise of the Books of Blood anthology series. This, along with "On Jerusalem Street", the closing story presented in UK editions of Volume 6, acts as a frame story for the series. The story mentions that the afterlife involves "highways of the dead" that sometimes intersect with the living world. A psychic researcher, Mary Florescu, has employed a quack medium named Simon McNeal to investigate a haunted house. Florescu knows McNeal is a fraud but is desperate to believe in the supernatural and also lusts after the young man. McNeal fakes visions as he has done many times before, pretending to hear names and stories told to him from beyond the mortal world. This time, ghosts and spirits decide to make McNeal a true messenger for them. As Florescu watches, the ghosts attack McNeal, carving names and "minute words" into his flesh, leaving him alive and otherwise uninjured but now with his body covered in stories the stories of this anthology series. Florescu, attracted to McNeal, decides to nurse the young man and eventually transcribe his tales, thinking of him as a "Book of Blood" and her as his only translator. This prologue, along with closing story "On Jerusalem Street" from Volume 6, was adapted and directed twice. First for the film Book of Blood by John Harrison and then for the 2020 Brannon Braga film Books of Blood. "The Midnight Meat Train" Office worker Leon Kaufman has recently moved to New York City, a place that he long idolized as "The Palace of Delights". Since arriving he has become disillusioned, seeing the dirt and depravity in a city like any other. A man named Mahogany is killing people in subway trains, identifying as