Unique Atmosphere of That Time and Place

We're going back through the archives and sharing some thoughts about John and his work that have crossed our path over the years.

Something About Little Books

Ian C. shared some comments earlier this month about "little books".

How Much Marshall?

I recently thumbed through The Figure in the Shadows and came across a few memorable excerpts of Lewis happily walking along Main Street, seeing a fountain at the traffic circle, and later encountering the titular figure outside of a Masonic Temple. These are memorable scenes, yes, and ones with a clear setting.

Top 10 Things Heard Around Bellairsia HQ

As we celebrate the tenth anniversary of Bellairsia, we’re making use again of our comically-absurd Twitter feed to share some memorable moments and commentary in the form of Top Ten lists.

A Note of Thanks

We were reminded last month that we were coming upon an anniversary: a decade since the founding of what has gone on to become this website, Bellairsia. Five years ago we said it didn’t seem like a mere five years had passed since we started this little project of ours. Five years after that and it doesn't seem like a decade has passed either, but the ticking clock says otherwise. It started innocently enough – a desire to celebrate the work of a favorite author – but I dare say the two of us were not prepared for where it led.

Who's Who: John Cameron Swayze

While pressed to come up with a nun-sounding name in order to gain access into Nyarlat-Hotep’s domain, Fergie blurts out, "And I am Sister Francine Hildegarde Ursula John Cameron Swayze [The Wrath of the Grinning Ghost; 141]."

Time Capsule: First Agriculture College

February 12, 1855: Today the Spartans celebrate the date when Michigan Governor Kinsley S. Bingham signed a bill establishing the nation's first agriculture college, the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan in East Lansing, Michigan.

Goreyana: The Doom of the Haunted Opera

Notes from Goreyana about The Doom of the Haunted Opera:

The book was published in 1995 by Dial Books for Young Readers and features a wraparound dust jacket design and frontis illustration by Edward Gorey. The back cover of the dust jacket is particularly colorful. Using a dream sequence for inspiration (don't most dreams play out in black and white?), Lewis and Rose Rita are shown being set upon by headless opera goers and bats!

When this book was published, I was offered the three pieces of original artwork by Mr. Gorey. Unfortunately, at this time the prices for Mr. Gorey's art were jumping significantly - in fact the price for this art was double what earlier art from the series had been priced at just two years previously - so I could not add this art to my collection. I do still have the full size xeroxes sent to me by Gotham Book Mart.

What Light Through Yonder Window

We once mentioned that John’s ability to casually toss out book titles may have caused more than a few people to spin their wheels searching for books that don’t exist. We dare say On the Restoration of Charmed Circles may still yet be published, though we won’t hold our breath waiting for it (or the film adaptation – let us not be silly). But John’s done the same with other passages in his work, too – describing something that may not exist in this world, yet may have one or more real-life antecedents.

Something About Author Robert J. Wiersema

The So Misguided blog, a Canadian book blog, interviews Robert J. Wiersema who is - you guessed it - a Canadian author as part of a review of his second novel, Bedtime Story (2010):

Dizzy the Arithmetic of Memory

We're going back through the archives and sharing some thoughts about John Bellairs and his work that have crossed our path over the years.

Alert: La casa con l'orologio nelle pareti

A few short years after The House with a Clock in its Walls (1973) was first released in the US, an Italian publishing house called Biblioteca Universale Rizzoli released La pendola magica: un giallo nella casa stregata dai maghi (c.1975). A scan of the cover reveals that Italians were treated to the same exterior artwork by Edward Gorey we Americans got to see, except it was cropped and everything appears to be yellow-green in color, replacing the rich violet that would have made Mrs. Zimmermann proud.

Paint Stuck All Over Skin

Molly Snyder writes at OnMilwaukee.com about the latest craze about literary tattoos. You'll remember a year or so ago Edward Gorey's The Gashlycrumb Tinies made an appearance (arm-in-arm with Siobhan Magnus) on American Idol. Snyder says other works from such luminaries as Lewis Carroll, J.K. Rowling, and even Mark Twain have made it as a tattoo:

Who's Who: Enrico Caruso

Apparently during the heyday of the New Zebedee Opera House, performers such as Enrico Caruso made appearances there [The Doom of the Haunted Opera; 29, 44].

Review: Spellbinder "Almost Paint-by-numbers Feel"

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