Time Capsule: 1453

May 29, 1453 - Bust out your copy of The Trolley to Yesterday and read along as the Byzantines and their city of Constantinople fall to the Ottoman Turks - 553 years ago today!

A Look Back: the University of Notre Dame, 1955-56

I suspect you can call us enthusiasts with this: we’ve tracked down a copy of the 1955-56 Dome, the University of Notre Dame yearbook. We’ve thumbed through the thing and found a few items of interest, which we’ve highlighted below - plus with added commentary.

Book Alert: The House Where Nobody Lived

The cover of the new Lewis Barnavelt mystery, The House Where Nobody Lived, has been released.

Tales of a Sixth-Grade Library

Jim Roeg asks what you were reading in sixth grade? He says he chose that year because it’s an awkward time for most.

“As the oldest kids in primary school, we’d just reached the pinnacle of the social hierarchy…and were about to slide right back down it, into the scary and unforgiving world of junior high.”

Sounds like Lewis Barnavelt in The Figure in the Shadows.

Memoriam: Elaine Lund

Elaine Lund passed away May 1, 2006.  Elaine (b. 1926) along with her late husband, Bob (1925-1995), founded the Marshall, Michigan landmark, the American Museum of Magic, in 1978.

The Lunds were dedicates of Brad Strickland's The Specter from the Magician's Museum, in which Lewis and Rose Rita visit a similar museum in New Zebedee and stumble upon spells, scrolls, and spiders.

Review: Mansion "Will Attract Bellairs's Fans, But It Is Not Likely To Win Many New Ones"

Book review: The Mansion in the Mist

Review: Fidgeta "Welcome Pleasantries, And Often Delicious"

Book review: Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies

Review: Weatherend "Suspense Builds Up Well To A Satisfying Ending"

Book review: The Dark Secret of Weatherend

Book Alert: The House Where Nobody Lived

Here's a brief synopsis about Brad Strickland's forthcoming Lewis Barnavelt adventure, The House Where Nobody Lived, due for publication in October 2006:

Lewis Barnavelt and his best friend Rose Rita investigate a strange old house in their hometown and discover that they may be dealing with powerful ancient Hawaiian spirits.

Review: Curse "Handles The Snug Suspense Expertly"

Book review: The Curse of the Blue Figurine

Golden Time Conventions

We are interested in discovering any information about John Bellairs's connection to science fiction or fantasy conventions or conferences. For example, we know he attended the Boskone conventions held in 1982 and 1983. In 1982 he appeared as part of the entitled "What To Do When Your Prince(ss) Does Not Come," with Jane Yolen, Ellen Kushner, Robin McKinley, Georgess McHarge, C. J. Cherryh, and Joan D. Vinge.