We’ll Take Calvinism for $100

One of us on staff read the final book in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series and there’s a group of people known as the Calvins who study the works of Mr. King religiously, making all sorts of cross references to people and places and even brand names.

Gosh, who would be so crazy as to do something like that?

Happy New Year.

Grasshopper Ramblings' Postcard

Blogger Grasshopper Ramblings shared some of the people the blogger looked up to as a child. It's a John Bellairs testimonial – and, to boot, it notes John sent the then 10-year-old blogger a postcard. We've known some people who would give teeth – preferably someone else's – for their own Bellairsian postcard.

Cram These Words

Have you read many collage poems?  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  Here’s an interesting collage poem we found, written by user Four_Thorns. As noted, all words are taken from The House with a Clock in its Walls, though not necessarily in John's original or intended order:

Or was it glue? He couldn’t remember.
Out in the front hall the mirror
on the coat rack was talking to itself
little bursts of static.

A Legacy in Multimedia

Wayne Bose writes asking what could be done to further the legacy of John Bellairs.  His idea?  Video games.  Hear him out --

The Edward Gorey Documentary

An update from filmmaker Christopher Seufert of Mooncusser Films documenting his time with illustrator Edward Gorey.

Something About a Bellairsian Musical

We found a rather odd story earlier this week from our friends at the Online Museum of Hoaxes: a musical about the Cardiff Giant. If you're not familiar with the stone colossus we invite you to read a bit about it...and the replica...and the fact a group of people in Iowa came together to sing about it.

Time Capsule: The Subject of Fidgettine Scholarship

November, 1966: Of all the silly things we’ve read, heard, and seen about the life of Saint Fidgeta, nothing seems more absurd then it being used as a classroom textbook.

In a college class.  Taught by John Bellairs. 

Really.

A Flair For Baroque Description And Gothic Horror

Will Duquette penned some thoughts about reading The Face in the Frost years ago, and only reading - and learning about - Bellairs's later novels.  He shared his thought about the omnibus edition of The Best of John Bellairs and seemingly still prefers The Face in the Frost.

Unexplained Noises are Best Left Unexplained

by the Chronicler of Mare Caelorum (Oct. 16, 2006)

(Originally published at thousandbookchronicle.blogspot.com)

Review: Spell "As Creepy As It Was When I Was Eleven Years Old"

Book review: The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull

Book Alert: The House Where Nobody Lived

The High Street wizards are coming back to you! Today!

After a three-year hiatus, Brad Strickland returns as author of the newest spooky adventure of John Bellairs's Lewis Barnavelt and Rose Rita Pottinger. The House Where Nobody Lived is the eleventh book in the long-running and popular Barnavelt series, centering on the strange Hawaii House of New Zebedee, Michigan.

Welcome back, Lewis - and a tip of the hat to Brad, too!

Chicago and the Places of His Dwelling

The second in an occasional series about where John Bellairs lived during his time in Chicago.

We've already touched upon Bellairs's first residence, the International House (or I-House) at the University of Chicago. He left at the end of the spring 1961 term and where he went after this is a bit hard to pinpoint.  There are a few gaps in the timeline and, for all we know, he may have returned to the I-House for a semester or two.

Review: Curse "Successfully Creates...the Evocative World Of Fifties Childhood"

Book review: The Curse of the Blue Figurine

Gorey Talks, Moves

One thing led to another recently and the end result was watching the old, eerie extended animated openings of the PBS program, Mystery! The original version's vignettes set the tone but it's the newer, expanded version trying to tell a story we've always liked.  Even though we don't quite get the story.  And that's the point.  However, from these works of Edward Gorey it was but a quick jump to something just as startling: clips of Edward Gorey himself, talking, from the forthcoming documentary project.

Ahoy, Long John Bellairs!

In honor of National Talk Like a Pirate Day we bring forth an exciting account of this roarin’ tale of the sea from one Long John Bellairs, that of Ye Cabin with a Timepiece in Thee Walls.