What's What: Diagonal Architecture

The Cathedral of Saint Gorboduc, among its many wonders, is one of the few churches that features examples of diagonal architecture (Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies; 34).

Who's Who: Saint Goar

Some local figure named Goar has a thing for baptisms for those crossing the Rhine River (Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies; 66-9).

Time Capsule: Hastings, Under Norman Circumstances #1066

Lewis Barnavelt reads about Halley's Comet appearing over England during the Norman Invasion (The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer; 19).

What's What: L'Osservatore Romano

The publication L'Osservatore Romano issued a statement about the investigation into whether Floradora should be declared a saint (Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies, 83).

Who's Who: Dean Husk?

"And who, may I ask, is Dean Husk?" The Question Box Moderator may be asked an assortment of oddball inquiries but this time he’s out to ask one of his own (Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies, 49-50).

Memoriam: Alfred O. Myers

For those of you that have enjoyed the biographical bits and pieces that we've come up with over the years at Bellairsia, you must tip your hat, as we do, to John Bellairs's friend, Alfred Myers.  Myers was a New Yorker by birth but whose family had moved to the Chicago area.  Myers attended Notre Dame as a business major and during his freshman year decided to share a bit of newly-found trivia:

Where's There: Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The White Sepulchre of Armbruster, Pennsylvania, is the home base of the Knights of the White Sepulchre, a semi-militant arm of the church, whose home organization is a plaster cast of this major Christian pilgrimage site [Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies; 100].

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: Prayer for Fair Weather

The Moist Heart missal lists several prayers for Mass, including this one that counters the previous Prayer for Rain and instead asks heavenly guidance to parch the mushy earth [Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies; 119).

Who's Who: Lyndon Johnson

During Pope Paul VI's 1965 visit to the United States this president met him in New York City [Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies; 30].

Killer Robot Eyes, Ranked

The Eyes of the Killer Robot (1986) turns thirty this year. In this tale, we learn that an insane inventor, Evaristus Sloane, created a fiendish, baseball-pitching robot in the early years of the 20th Century.

Professor Childermass, Johnny Dixon, and Byron "Fergie" Ferguson travel to Stark Corners, New Hampshire, and find the 50-year-old machine in pieces. Packing the contraption into the prof's car, the three re-assemble the man-shaped machine at a party back in Duston Heights.

Here are the two glass eyes of the robot, ranked.

Proof Reading: 6 Misspelling of "Sorcerer's Skull"

John Bellairs wrote books and humor articles, Brad Strickland has written books, radio plays, poetry, and more - and they've all misspelled their fare share of words.

What title has seen the most misspellings? We'd wager The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull (1984). Here are six ways other people have written the title over the years.

7 Foods Cooked Up By Professor Childermass

We all know that after a long day teaching history at Haggstrum College that Roderick Childermass drops the “professor” bit once he arrives home and instead plays the part of a chef, whipping up ooey-gooey greats such as sacher tortes and black forest cake.

Who hasn’t been a just a little bit jealous of his friends when you read about the items they get to try - and apparently quite often, too?

So what seven delicious foods will the prof cook up next?

Thou Art Welcome

We've highlighted fan art over the years and today we welcome another piece. John Rego of Boston tells about his creation:

This piece was for a school assignment were I created a book cover illustration for the book "A [sic] House with a Clock in Its Walls".

A Gorey Fixation

Edward Gorey has popped up in a few places this week. First there's a play about the life of the notoriously private auteur debuts May 3: