Goreyana: The Secret of the Underground Room

Notes from Goreyana about The Secret of the Underground Room:

• This is one of Mr. Gorey's disjointed dust jacket covers where the image from the rear panel does not flow smoothly into the front. The outdoor scene on the back makes an abrupt change at the edge of the book's spine, with the front cover showing "the underground room". Even so, the front cover portion is one of my favorite paintings created for this book series. The masterful work has only hints of colors, but the mood evoked by the tones fits the story perfectly. Edward Gorey is quoted as saying he painted in "mushroom colors", and this is a perfect example.

'Hark! A Vagrant' does Bellairs

Hark! A Vagrant is a web comic created by artist Kate Beaton. It often features literary and historical references and it’s something that John probably would have gotten a kick out of (amateur cartoonist that he was, too).

Beaton has done a few series involving Edward Gorey illustrations: old book covers drawn by Gorey are augmented by new art by Beaton that further tells the story of what’s seen on the cover.

For example, she recently had some fun with Bellairs’s 1990 Johnny Dixon adventure, The Secret of the Underground Room, and injecting some mislaid humor into what is actually a terrifying scene from the book.  We'd love to see other samplings of Bellairs titles.

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.

Review: House "A Really Fun Book Though I'm Not Sure It's A Favorite"

Book review: The House with a Clock in its Walls

Believe Only Half of What You Watch

We mentioned earlier this year that 2010 marked the thirtieth anniversary of The Clue According to Sherlock Holmes, the misnamed made-for-television version of The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn. Arthur Tourot wrote into us today to announce he’s posted the program online (in five parts) for your viewing pleasure.

This is the full, original version of the program and not the shortened version where they edited out the Holmes/Watson nonsense.

Top 10 2ndary Characters

As we prepare for the tenth anniversary of Bellairsia, we’re using our blatantly advertised Twitter feed to share some memorable moments and commentary in the form of Top Ten lists.

Goreyana: The Chessmen of Doom

Notes from Goreyana about The Chessmen of Doom:

• For this title, Edward Gorey created a piece of artwork that is my favorite frontis illustration from the entire Bellairs series. When Mr. Gorey decided to sell his Bellairs art holdings, I was thrilled to find it amongst the pieces being offered, and this became the first "Bellairs" piece or art which I purchased. I love everything about this illustration. It is detailed, creepy, humorous, and even a little religious! It has all the bells and whistles for a Bellairs or Gorey collector.

A Night In Five Dials

Some music inspired by Prospero's horrific encounter in - of course - Five Dials:

Commenting on 'The Tilting House'

Jennifer, the librarian of the Jean Little Library, had some misgivings about the back-of-the-book promotions on Tom Llewellyn's The Tilting House:

BiblioFile: Puffin Publishes Barnavelt (Part 1)

You can credit Brad Strickland for many things – continuing the sagas of Lewis Barnavelt and Johnny Dixon, extending John’s literary life, sparking fans to band together on the Internet, and so on – including the push of paperbacks.

When Strickland’s The Ghost in the Mirror was nearing its initial publication in April 1993, the powers-that-be, knowing it would eventually hit paperback, seemingly decided to start fresh with the series. John’s original Lewis Barnavelt trilogy was first released in paperback during the mid-to-late 1970s through Dell’s Yearling imprint and, with at least two new books in the series due out in 1993, there would have to be some changes when those covers went soft. Those Yearlings were approaching being two decades old by this point, for goodness sakes!  What better way to connect the original books with the new adventures than with a new round of paperbacks? What eventually surfaced was published through Puffin with contemporary layouts and artwork by illustrator Brad Goldman.

Review: House "Gothic Bones Have Allowed It To Stand The Test Of The Decades"

Book review: The House with a Clock in its Walls

Time Capsules: Memories Written In The Earth

I found an article on time capsules while thumbing through our archives. Time capsules bring mortality to mind and make me wonder if someone somewhere ever placed one of Bellairs's books in such a thing. I cannot fathom why one would do such a thing except to help ensure people remembered the book decades from now. Maybe there's an autographed edition buried somewhere underground.

Time capsules also made me wonder what would have happened had Isaac and Selenna decided to plant a little secret in their backyard. Not so much the instructions for end-of-the-world shenanigans but another booby-trapped timepiece of sorts.

Anyway –

Raising Up Spirits From Underground

I’ll admit there’s always been something about The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt that’s enchanted me. Part of it is that I think it’s the first book of John’s I remember reading (and you always remember your first, right?) but I think a lot of it has to do with Bellairs’ ability to tie together some interesting historical anecdotes.

Goreyana: The Trolley to Yesterday

Notes from Goreyana about The Trolley to Yesterday:

• Gorey's wrap-around dust jacket art is not up to par with most of the other color covers in this series. The front cover portion of the dust jacket art looks undecided and rushed. I do like the painting on the back cover illustration, which has delicately placed clouds.
• [The frontis illustration with] heavily crosshatched drawing is remarkable for the deep black shadows which were created by line work and not in-painting. This is a drawing that is diminished when printed in the book because all the crosshatching blurs into solid black on the printed page. This drawing is signed in ink.
• The map is a fantastic example of Mr. Gorey's deft skills at cartography. Mr. Gorey misspelled several words on this map and had to correct the art for publication. This is also a rare instance in which Mr. Gorey drew an illustration larger than it was intended to be printed because of the amount of lettering involved.
• At one time, I also owned two small drawings that appear as interior spot illustrations for this book, but I sold them some years ago to another collector. The two illustrations were drawn on a single piece of illustration paper. 

Top 10 Fictional Books

As we prepare for the tenth anniversary of Bellairsia, we’re using our modestly-shared Twitter feed to share some memorable moments and commentary in the form of Top Ten lists.