Time Capsule: Nov. 11, 1983

It's always interesting to find out something more about John Bellairs. Thirty years ago today, his father, Frank, died.

Time Capsule: May 1, 1983

May 1, 1983: We’re celebrating thirty years of evil charms, disappearing priests, strange spiders, and – of course – the ushabti.  Dial Books published The Curse of the Blue Figurine on May 1, 1983 – thirty years ago today – and ushered in a whole new slew of characters and locations.

Time Capsule: April 1, 1986

April 1, 1986: We wanted to pause our Bellairsian endeavors to note the 25th anniversary of the publication of To Stand Beneath the Sun, the debut novel of author Brad Strickland.

The Ultimate Goose Chase: 30 years without a "Clue"

A few years ago we were revising the Bellairsia website, which meant scanning and creating new images from the television adaptations of The House with a Clock in its Walls and The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn (we had clearer versions of the programs which meant we could create clearer images for the site). No, the programs are not great and the routine of updating the pictures was not an enjoyable task, either. Still, in watching the programs and examining the pictures we realized there were some exterior shots of the characters in front of houses and parks and a cemetery, among other places.

Time Capsule: 1985

November, 1985 - A tip of the hat (so it can suck your scalp dry) to Brother Tentacles! Twenty years ago this November we learned just how sinister the Windrow clan truly was. John Bellairs’s fourth adventure in the Johnny Dixon series introduced us to, not only the malevolent Zebulon, but also his unforgettable familiar - the short, hunched figure with tentacles that roams the Windrow estate in New York. The Revenge of the Wizard’s Ghost continued the Windrow saga, as started the year before in The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull, making for a delightful one-two punch from some of the author’s best-remembered villains.