Finding "The Two Magicians" after 50 Years

Several decades (or so) ago, in a country whose name matters and is already known, there was an author named John Bellairs, and very much the one you are thinking of. He wrote about two characters named Prospero and Roger Bacon:

Prospero lived in the South Kingdom and...stayed at home a great deal, and his trips to other places in the North and South were made on odd occasions and (sometimes) by still odder modes of travel. [...] Roger Bacon, who spent most of his time in England, was more familiar with the border country between the North and the South than Prospero was.

This story crammed with wizards was The Face in the Frost. In 1973, author Lin Carter wrote in his Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy of his three choices for the best fantasy novels to appear since The Lord of the Rings. His selections were The Last Unicorn (1968) by Peter S. Beagle, Red Moon and Black Mountain (1970) by Joy Chant, and The Face in the Frost (1969). Carter included the following passage about Bellairs following his analysis:

...in fact, [Bellairs] has produced for my yet-unpublished anthology of juvenile fantasy, entitled Magic Kingdoms, a new short-story which tells how his diabolic duo [Prospero and Roger Bacon] first became friends.

Something About Abraham Ortelius

He who made the measles map.

Skellig Michael Awakens

CBS News recently discussed the popularity of Skellig Michael, an island in the Atlantic off the southwest tip of Ireland, after being featured in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The island, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, is now being stormed by fans of the Jedi.

What's What: SPQR

Fleeing from The Bishop, Prospero finds traces of Roman influence in the stonework of the castle in the form of this abbreviation [The Dolphin Cross; Magic Mirrors; 226].

Faces in the Mirror

by Matthew D. Surridge (Aug. 8, 2010)

(Originally published at BlackGate.com)

Congratulations to Omar Rayyan

Finalists for the Chesley Awards, which honor art and artists related to science fiction and fantasy, were announced by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists recently.

Time Capsule: The Face...at 40

We would do all Bellairsdom a great disservice if we did not acknowledge this year is the fortieth anniversary of The Face in the Frost. It is still the first (and the only compleat) story to feature the wizards Prospero and Roger Bacon who live in a strange land known only as the Southern Kingdom. And what a book it is.  Bellairs actually composed a lot of the book in another kingdom – the United Kingdom...England – in his years after teaching at Shimer College. How far along in Prospero's tale Bellairs was before he arrived in England is uncertain but the ambiance there surely inspired him – note the similarities of local flavor found in the Gorgon's head in Bath and Somerset's Five Dials Inn to some of the encounters in Face.

Book Alert: Magic Mirrors

Magic Mirrors, the new John Bellairs omnibus, is now available for purchase from the New England Science Fiction Association (NESFA). Want a copy of The Face in the Frost with Marilyn Fitschen’s original artwork? Want to relive the adventures of The Pedant and the Shuffly? Want to finally see St. Fidgeta back in print after all these years?

Book Alert: Magic Mirrors

There is news this holiday season of what appears to be a new John Bellairs anthology on the horizon. This one is a collection of his non-YA books entitled (appropriately enough) Magic Mirrors. The anthology looks to include: