Underappreciated Author: John Bellairs

by Novel Nematode (Feb. 26, 2010)

(Originally published at novelnematode.wordpress.com)

Big Mouth Strikes Again

Years later, a passage from The Face in the Frost reminds a reader about wider-than-usual mouths.  Take heed, sir: Kuchisake Onna pops up The Tower at the End of the World. 

Women in Bellairs' Fiction

What's Kate reading? Bellairs, again, as this prolific reader and blogger (who has reviewed more than a few Bellairs titles) has a new commentary on the female characters in John’s novels.

Light and Shade, Alas! Alas!

Vincent Desjardins is an illustrator and a fan of children's book illustrations who noted he was recently inspired by The Dark Secret of Weatherend

Goreyana: Weatherend & Spell

Notes from Goreyana about The Dark Secret of Weatherend and The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull:

(Almost) Everywhere Washington Slept

In a 1999 Smithsonian Magazine article, Timothy Foote explained, driven by duty to present himself to the citizens of the shaky new union, young George Washington spent the night in so many inns and private houses that “George Washington Slept Here” became a real estate cliché, as well as the title of a clunky 1940 stage show and 1942 comedy film starring Jack Benny.

One wonders, if the phrase was so popular, if Professor Childermass and Johnny ever saw it on something during the course of their adventures throughout New England.  It would be nice to pretend Washington slept at ... oh, let's say the Fitzwilliam Inn in New Hampshire, the site of The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull.  However, the inn opened in 1796 and the former president would die a mere 3 years later, so --

Anyway --

Fast-forward to a Feb. 14 Boston Globe article about where Washington slept in Newburyport.  The library of all place.

Top 10 Gorey Titles

In preparation for what would have been Edward Gorey’s 85th birthday later this month, we’re counting down what are, in our meager opinion, the top ten strangest sounding Gorey book titles. Who else could come up with something as arcane as The Eclectic Abecedarium?

Time Capsule: February 8, 1910

February 8, 1910: 100 years ago today – February 8, 1910 – William D. Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America. Popular legend says that Boyce first learned of the Scouting movement organized by Lord Robert Baden-Powell from an Unknown Scout that gave him directions on a foggy London street in late 1909.

Something About Gorey

Gorey is a village in the parishes of Saint Martin and Grouville on the east coast of the island of Jersey, a British Crown Dependency near the coast of Normandy, France.  Irwin Terry shared some comments about the village at Goreyana:

Review: Face "One of the Greatest Fantasy Novels of All Time"

Book review: The Face in the Frost

Time Capsule: 1820

January 1820: 190 years ago this month, the John Keats poem, “Ode on a Grecian Urn” was first published. The five stanzas that make up the well-known verse include such lines as:

Review: House "Gripping, Often Amusing, and Definitely Spine Tingling"

Book review: The House with a Clock in its Walls

Goreyana: The Mummy, The Will, and the Crypt

Notes from Goreyana about The Mummy, The Will, and the Crypt:

I own the original watercolor artwork for the cover portion of the dust jacket. This watercolor is very painterly with its stormy night sky, and I really like the use of opaque watercolor for the snow and lightning. The touch of red in Johnny's jacket plays nicely against Mr. Gorey's "mushroom colors" in the rest of the painting.

Review: Curse "Omniscient Narrator...Much Too Explanatory"

Book review: The Curse of the Blue Figurine

Still Even More About Widow's Walk Lake

Filmmaker and Bellairs-fan James Strayer passes along the teaser trailer for his film, Widow's Walk Lake.