Memoriam: Matthew Tobin

Actor Matthew R. Tobin has died. He was 78.

Memories of The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring

Some remembrances from our archives of The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring (1976):

The Curse of the Sad Little Figurine

Stu Horvath tells the story of this image shared on Flickr, found in an antique store (where else) in the Brandywine River Valley:

Book Alert: The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer

The cover art for The Sign of the Sinister Sorcerer by Bart Goldman has been revealed.

Review: Price Brings Some Gravitas To This Otherwise Luke-Warm Production

Program Review: Once Upon a Midnight Scary (1979)

Review: Chessmen "No One Over The Age Of Ten Would Feel The Slightest Twinge Of Anxiety"

Book review: The Chessmen of Doom

Review: Trolley "Premise...Was Absurd"

Book review: The Trolley to Yesterday

Of Bobbleheads and Bears

Some news out of New Hampshire tonight.

In Forms...and At Zoos...Imaginary

Writer and children's librarian Lisa Chellman writes about the devil's in the details when it comes to fictional things in Michigan:

When I was a kid, I never fully forgave James Howe for writing, in Morgan's Zoo, that one of the animals was to be shipped to the zoo in Kalamazoo. There was no zoo in Kalamazoo, as I knew darn well; the nearest zoo was in Battle Creek. My parents explained poetic license, but to me it was just wrong.

Best Punch Line in a Fantasy Book, Ever

What's the best punch line in a fantasy book? Jim Lehmer asks and answers himself, saying it's the following:

"Use the spell, fool."

This being the wisdom of wise-one Michael Scott from Bellairs's The Face in the Frost.

Good one, Jim.

Memoriam: Dody Goodman

Dody Goodman, best known to contemporary audiences as the scatterbrained secretary in the Grease movies and in her role in the sitcom Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, died Sunday, June 22. She was 93.

Discovering Hoosac

by guest contributor, Ben McLeod:

When I was about nine or ten years old, in the very early 1980's, I checked out the Winona Public Library's copy of The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn. I probably took it back into the stacks, which is where I liked to curl up with creepy finds. But before you write this off as another fan's first-time discovery of Mr. Bellairs work, let me explain. I felt like Bastian in Michael Ende's The Neverending Story because as Anthony Monday wandered around the Hoosac Public Library, I began to think it was strangely familiar. As I read further and the novel's description of Hoosac developed, I came to realize that it was, in fact, Winona, Minnesota under a different name.

Under the Spell of Scary Stuff

It’s nice - even if it is all these years later - to come across something new about John Bellairs. This week we were directed to Marilyn Stasio's article in the June 9, 1991 edition of the New York Times that gives some praise to the then recently-deceased author.

Plus we sort-of like the phrase "chiller-dillers" and welcome it back into polite society PDQ.

Something About Jamesian Inspirations

Knowing Bellairs was fond of the ghost stories of M. R. James has led a few people to send us their recommendations for similar tales.  What's your verdict?

Bibliofile: Peter Smith Publishing

No book collecting topic has been discussed more at Bellairsia and the Compleat Bellairs over the years than the fine art of tracking down the hardcover first edition copies of John and Brad’s books with the wraparound dust-jacket artwork by Edward Gorey and doing so without shelling out fistfuls of money in the process.