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!