Someone Who Really Cared For Kids

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 Michael and Marc Leighton

Director Michael Shane Leighton and writer Marc Leighton are the brothers responsible for the terrifying found footage horror film Pursuit of a Legend. Gorepress’s Scullion was hugely impressed by their feature debut and wanted to discuss where their ideas came from and how they created such a believable “found footage” film.

Whither travel you?

We were combing through our archives and came across a note dated 2004 from fan James Card discussing some of his Bellairsian travels over the years:

Who's Who: William Cullen Bryant

Johnny Dixon makes the connection between Jarmyn Thanatos and this writer’s 1811 poem, "Thanatopsis" [The Bell, the Book, and the Spellbinder; 53].

Famed Be Thy Tutors

User custardpringle has some rants about the University of Chicago and in the follow-up comments announces this:

Review: Spell "A Secret Ritual? In A Catholic Church? Bring On The Rites, I Say!"

Book review: The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull

Alert: La lettera la strega e l'anello

Chalk it up to someone changing their minds. Maybe. A few months ago we discussed the Italian editions of the original Lewis Barnavelt trilogy published by Happy Planet Books. We noted for La lettera la strega e l'anello (The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring) that Dhyan Sahido was to be the cover artist and that the cover image was to be a twilight-hued sky with a hovering mask, snake-shaped shadow, and so on.

Beshrew The Witch!

We’ve always admired John’s ability to mention something in passing that may seem unimportant but find out later that it’s something of a joke. Take Roger Bacon’s slightly deaf Brass Head and the instructions for a wall of glass it spews out late one night. It’s a funny story on its own but it’s not until you realize John is having a bit of fun with the brazen head legend that you realize John really knows his historic legends. John did some of this in Saint Fidgeta, too - Dragomira, Sporus, Floradora, and Pope Joan’s true identity come to mind.

Time Capsule: April 1, 1986

April 1, 1986: We wanted to pause our Bellairsian endeavors to note the 25th anniversary of the publication of To Stand Beneath the Sun, the debut novel of author Brad Strickland.

Odds and Ends from the Haunted Opera

We’ve been going through our archives of late – trying to make sense of a decade of information – and found a file of notes we took from the old Compleat Bellairs forum provided by none-other-than Brad Strickland. Brad was known to hop on once in a while and answer questions from readers and fans about nearly every aspect of writing and publishing and the like. Apparently at one time (prior to the site's demise c. 2003) the topic was The Doom of the Haunted Opera (1995) and Brad offered up some interesting tidbits.

Driving Mister Bellairs

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

Goreyana: The Hand of the Necromancer

Notes from Goreyana about The Hand of the Necromancer:

Who's Who: Vaughn Monroe

Johnny Dixon comes home from a movie and listens to the radio, which is tuned into Camel Caravan, “a musical program that did the hit tunes of the week” and featured Vaughn Monroe and other singers Johnny liked [The Curse of the Blue Figurine; 56].

Twenty Years, And Yet I Am Remembered

Arvid Nelson is a comic book writer who lives in Northampton, Massachusetts and pays tribute to John on the twentieth anniversary of his death, on March 8:

Time Capsule: 1991

From the March 9, 1991 edition of the Haverhill Gazette: