Film unit picks up rights to 'King of Skull Island'

Spirit Pictures has picked up the rights to the book Kong: King of Skull Island, a prequel to the well-known tale of the big ape.

A Tribute to the Late John Bellairs

by Amy Martin (Jul. 4, 2009)
(Originally published at bookstove)

It seems little recognition is given to the late John Bellairs who died in 1991. Hollywood, with its remakes of Friday the 13th and paranormal vampire romances, seems to have overlooked the young adult classic Gothic thrillers by John Bellairs. However, I do not understand why some of his books have not been made into movies because, to me, many of them are nothing short of genius.

Review: Spell "A Classic...Fun Book With Haunted Clocks, Tiny Skulls...And The Word Phooey!"

Book review: The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull 

Review: Wicked Will

Review: Wicked Will

Review: Face "Recommended For Its Unique Portrayal Of Magic"

Book review: The Face in the Frost

Review: Spellbinder "A Typical Over-the-top Romp"

Book review: The Bell, the Book, and the Spellbinder

Portraying The Real Myra Eells

We caught this bit of news from the Fort Walla Walla Museum World blog about its Living History Company and individuals portraying some of the Seventh Day Advenstist pioneers in the Walla Walla region dating to the latter half of the 19the century.

Among those being portrayed were pioneer missionaries Cushing and Myra Eells (shown here portrayed by Rogers Miles and Barbara Coddington).  No, it’s not the Myra Eells you think we’re talking about, and, yes, there really was a real-life Myra Eells.

Bailey MacDonald and Wicked Will

Bailey MacDonald’s debut book – Wicked Will: A Mystery of Young William Shakespeare – will be published by Aladdin on June 23, 2009:

Time Capsule: 68 AD

July 9, 68 AD: The Roman Emperor Nero committed suicide after he was deposed by the Senate 1,941 years ago today (we think it was a Saturday). Nero is best remembered all these years later for his tyranny and lavishness – that he “fiddled while Rome burned” and later constructed a golden palace.

Goreyana: The Curse of the Blue Figurine

Notes from Goreyana about The Curse of the Blue Figurine:

In this return by Edward Gorey as illustrator, he begins the format he will employ throughout the remainder of the series. There is a big full color dust-jacket painting and (usually) a frontis illustration. Sometimes there are spot illustrations which are dropped into the text, but the books are not fully illustrated. The frontis drawing for this title is a particularly nice.

In November 2010, Goreyana acquired the frontis illustration and provided additional commentary:

The skill of Edward Gorey's crosshatching technique in this piece of art is a master class in line manipulation. In this single image Mr. Gorey uses variations of line to render the cave, figures, rain outside the cave, fire, smoke from the fire, and the enveloping darkness surrounding them. I especially like the two pinpoint glowing eyes of the advancing figure which are added with small dots of white paint. 

Bookmark Him and Write His Speeches

We couldn’t help but scratch our heads recently when we received an interesting email from people soliciting bookmarks for a Chicago-area celebrity bookmark auction. It began innocent enough but the message soon took an odd turn:

Guest: Celebrating John Bellairs

by Brer (May 16, 2009)
(Originally published at Power of Babel)

Review: Trolley "Can’t Rewrite History"

Book review: The Trolley to Yesterday

Goreyana: The House with a Clock in Its Walls

Notes from Goreyana about The House with a Clock in Its Walls:

For this first collaboration, Mr. Gorey has illustrated the story in much the same style as a number of other projects he had worked on. The wrap-around design of the dust jacket has images from the story sprinkled across the front and back covers, and the book is fully illustrated throughout the text with wonderful full page drawings and spot illustrations. Mr. Gorey was not commissioned to do books 2, 3 and 4, but would return on book #5 with a new look/approach to the dust wrapper that would continue through the rest of the series.

At one time, Gotham Book Mart offered me the original pen and ink artwork for the dust wrapper design, but I did not purchase it. At the time, there were a number of original Gorey pieces available, and I felt that this piece was less desirable than some other artwork being offered. It sold before I could "get back to it". Unfortunately, none of the interior illustrations for this title were made available, and I do not know if they had been sold previously or if they are still in the Gorey estate archives.

Celebrating Michigan Week 2009

Michigan Week was created in 1954 to unite members of local communities and promote the good things the state has to offer. The Battle Creek Enquirer reports that “Marshall is one of the few cities across the state that puts on a host of activities celebrating Michigan's past, present and future.”