John Bellairs was born on January 17, 1938, in the small town of Marshall, Michigan, where his father owned a saloon. The business was less than stable, and John's mom often worried about money. Even when very young, John was conscious of his parents' financial concerns, and this would later emerge in his stories; he created a number of adolescent characters who get into trouble trying to make their families financially secure.
Despite money troubles, John did enjoy his childhood - his hometown was full of huge spooky old houses and wooded areas, and he loved it. He would later turn Marshall into New Zebedee, a town which would figure in several of his books. "I write about things I wish had happened to me when I was a kid."
John studied at the University of Notre Dame, then earned his Master's in 1960 at the University of Chicago. He served on the English and humanities faculty of lots of colleges - the College of St. Teresa (Minnesota), Shimer College (Ilinois), Emmanuel College (Massachusetts), Merrimack College (Massachusetts).
Bellairs' first book was a fantasy novel for adults,inspired by Tolkien, titled The Face in the Frost. At the time, it didn't get much public notice. He didn't begin to recieve critical accliam until the publication of his first young-adult mystery novel, The House with the Clock in Its Walls.
John died in 1991, leaving several partially-written books (I'm not sure how complete or incomplete they were). Brad Strickland, a "longtime Bellairs fan" - I don't know exactly how he figures in - completed these four novels, and they were published posthumously by Dial Books.
John enjoyed archeology, history, Dickens, wine-tasting, cheese, Latin, and trivia of all kinds.
Books:
The Beast Under the Wizard's Bridge
The Bell, the Book, and the Spellbinder
The Chessmen of Doom
The Curse of the Blue Figurine
The Dark Secret of Weatherend
The Doom of the Haunted Opera*
The Drum, the Doll and the Zombie*
The Eyes of the Killer Robot
The Face in the Frost
The Figure in the Shadows
The Ghost in the Mirror*
The House With a Clock in Its Walls
The Lamp from the Warlock's Tomb
The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring
The Mansion in the Mist
The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt
The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost
The Secret of the Underground Room
The Specter from the Magician's Museum
The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull
The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn
The Trolley to Yesterday
The Vengeance of the Witch-Finder*
The Wrath of the Grinning Ghost
*completed by Brad Strickland and published after John Bellairs' death
thanks to:
http://www.compleatbellairs.com/johnb.shtml
www.amazon.com
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