John Bellairs: The Spooky Writer Who Cast a Magic Spell

Carol Schaal of the Notre Dame Magazine has written a superb article about John Bellairs, "the wittiest guy in the class of '59", for the magazine's summer 2003 edition:

When the kids finish the latest Harry Potter, some fans of ghosts and spells and things that go creeeeak in the night have a suggestion: Check out the books by John Bellairs.

Bellairs, who graduated from Notre Dame in 1959, became the talk of juvenile fiction in the 1970s with the publication of The House with a Clock in Its Walls. The creepy doings in that book earned it a place as one of The New York Times Best Books in 1973.

He published three separate series of juvenile horror/mystery books until his death of cardiovascular disease in 1991 at age 53. His estate hired Brad Strickland to complete four books begun by Bellairs; Strickland has since continued the series under his own name.

Memoriam: Bernard Markwell

Bernard K. Markwell, "to whom Saint Fidgeta first appeared on rainy day in front of the Oriental Institute in Chicago," passed away July 2. He was 64.

Researching Mary Zimmerman

This past spring we began a series of queries with the Wisconsin Regional Writers' Association (WRWA) about Mary H. Zimmerman. Why, you’re undoubtedly asking? She’s someone John Bellairs met once while visiting Milwaukee for a friend’s wedding back in the early 1960s. John’s friend and the illustrator of his first three books, Marilyn Fitschen, was also on hand with her husband, Dale, and picks up the story from there:

The Old Man of the Mountain

The Old Man of the Mountain, New Hampshire's natural stone profile that looks like a gnarled human face, fell from its mountainside Saturday, May 3.

Book Alert: Le Monstre Sous le Pont

The French edition of the The Beast under the Wizard's Bridge (loosely translated as The Monster Under the Bridge), with cover art by Lalex, is to be published this September. This is book #7 in the Kévin et les magiciens series.

Book Alert: L'Opéra Maléfique

The French edition of the The Doom of the Haunted Opera (loosely translated as The Opera Evil), with cover art by Lalex, is to be published this May. This is book #6 in the Kévin et les magiciens series.

Book Alert: どくろの呪い

The Japanese edition of the The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull (loosely translated as Curse of Skull that moves) will be published this August.

Book Alert: The Whistle, the Grave and the Ghost

Amazon has posted the cover of The Whistle, the Grave and the Ghost with artwork created by S.D. Schindler.

Brad Strickland, writing at the Compleat Bellairs:

The new jacket cover for The Whistle, the Grave and the Ghost is very nice. I think this one is a lot of fun - we see Lewis again bedeviled by bullies, except now that he's older and maybe a little smarter, things don't quite work out the way the bullies expect. And there's a glimpse of one of Lewis's gloomy aunts as well. Won't give away too much, though.

Memoriam: Sister Bernetta Quinn

Author and educator Sister Bernetta Quinn (1915-2003), a Franciscan Sister of the Congregation of Our Lady of Lourdes, died February 24 at Assisi Heights.

Blue Devil Bellairs Fan

The News and Observer had a recent interview with Duke Blue Devil Forward Nick Horvath where he talked about his double major (English and Physics), his love of writing and favorite authors.

Book Alert: Le Chasseur de Sorciers

The French edition of the The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder (loosely translated as Wizards of the Hunter), with cover art by Lalex, is due out in February. This is book #5 in the Kévin et les magiciens series.

Between Compulsion and A Brave Respect

In 1959, John Bellairs and Al Myers went from being friends at Notre Dame to friends at the University of Chicago, John studying English and Myers in pursuit of his MBA.  Myers doesn't have as clear a memory of the two's Chicago days as he does their time in South Bend but can testify Bellairs "worked his tail off".

Myers did share one story from their days in Chicago that doesn't concern Bellairs at all.

Book Alert: オペラ座の幽霊

The Japanese edition of the The Doom of the Haunted Opera (loosely translated as Phantom of the Opera - eat your heart out, Gaston Leroux) will be published next March.

The Bullies, the Rings, and the Books

I just finished reading the 20th anniversary expanded edition of The Monster’s Ring written by popular children’s author Bruce Coville and in many ways it reminded me of some of the stories of John Bellairs, particularly The Curse of the Blue Figurine which also features a magic ring and a bully by the name of Eddie. As I read it, I was pleasantly surprised to find an actual reference to one of John’s books therein. To help get into the Halloween spirit, Russell Crannaker, the book’s protagonist, decides to read a scary story, and guess what? Russell has good taste:

Memoriam: Thomas Fuller

Novelist, dramatist, and screenwriter Thomas E. Fuller died November 21, 2002, in Duluth, Georgia following a week-long hospitalization due to a heart attack.