Something About Vesuvian Victims

Spero autem quod in pett sed planeta rutilans.

Something About Evaristus

Eye Opening Trivia, Part 1.

Something About Disappearing Islands

How can we be wrong? Sail away with them to another world!

Something About Scary Ghost Stories

No tales of the Plaça de les Glòries. Sorry.

Something About the Crusader

And either victory, or else a grave.

Something About the Obelisk of Theodosius

Oh, pointy pointy.

Something About the Julius Caesar Statue

Give him a statue with his ancestors.

Something About the Charlemagne Statue

Magic to do.

Something About Wonderful Things

Man upside down, ripple of water, ankh. Ankh!

Something About the Godfrey Bouillon Statue

Well stocked.

Something About Thorn

Ye of little faith.

Something About the Witch House

And a familiar unknown.

Something About Occult Britain

Ghosts will haunt it still.

Something About Old English

Rædan Ye Olde Englisc.

Something About Royal Vaults

Sounds better than a groin vault.

Something About Franchises

You may be adapted. Resistance may be futile.

Banned Books Week 2022

Banned Books Week is an annual awareness campaign promoted by the American Library Association and Amnesty International celebrating the freedom to read.  Prominent First Amendment and library activist Judith Krug founded the event 1982.  The late Ann LaPietra (1933-2007) - owner and operator of the kids' place book store in Marshall, Michigan, and the creator of the John Bellairs Walk - was also a supporter of First Amendment rights and was known to create visual displays within her bookstore in support of Banned Books Week.

The 2022 celebration is September 18 to 24.

Book Alert: The Stone, the Cipher, and the Shadows

The Johnny Dixon series continues - nearly 40 years after it began - as a flu epidemic ushers in a plague of dark magic:

Something About the Battle of Montcel-Frétoy

Spear carriers.

Something About Holyrood, Edinburgh

Crossing Britaine's Other Eye.

Something About Monarchs

Crown dependency.

Notre Dame: Sorin Hall's New West Wing Opens

Renovations to John Bellairs's one-time Notre Dame dorm, Sorin Hall - which he once lovingly referred to as "South Bend's answer to the House of Usher" - are complete, as Margaret Fosmoe discussed in the Notre Dame Magazine:

Something About Spellbinding Cheese

Eat your heart out, Cheesemen of Doom.

Something About Pineapples

Doling out the hospitality.

Something About the Ottoman Parties

Turkish delights.

Something About Bellairsian Influences

John Bellairs continues to influence today's readers and writers in various ways:

Something About the Curse of the Obelisk

On pins.

Memoriam: Mark Shields

Mark Shields (1937–2022) was an American political columnist and commentator.  Shields was born and raised in Weymouth, Massachusetts, and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1959, alongside John Bellairs, Alfred Myers, and Charles Bowen, the latter using Sheilds' name in one of his Scholastic humor columns during the 1958-59 school year.

After college, Shield went on to serve in the United States Marine Corps. Afterwards, he worked for several local and presidential races before beginning a carrer with PBS as a commentator and columnist for several other news outlets.

Paperback Collecting? It’s a LibraryThing.

Numerous fans have written asking book collecting questions over the years.  Most of the questions center around the Dial hardcover editions.  Other people collect paperback editions, often the Bantam Skylark editions from the 1980s.

Something About a Slap

Back of the hand-me-down world.

Something About Book Fossicking

Look it up if you don't know what it means ;)  .

Interview: Wolfgang-Armin Rittmeier

Fans of John Bellairs are found in several countries - including Germany, where Wolfgang-Armin Rittmeier proudly celebrates one of his favorite authors.  Wolfgang recently shared his favorite things about Bellairs's books and his thoughts on literary translations – and then some more about his second favorite author, M. R. James. Fröhliches lesen!

Happy Birthday, John Bellairs

Join us in celebrating what would have been the 84th birthday of John Bellairs!