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The Chessmen of Doom: Book Seven) (Johnny Dixon #7)
by John BellairsIn a thrilling adventure, a young sleuth and his professor friend are challenged to solve a riddle and win a fortune Professor Roderick Childermass may be the strangest person Johnny Dixon has ever met, but compared to his brother Peregrine, the professor is practically normal. Peregrine is a born trickster, and when he knows his death is near, he sends a letter promising the professor his entire $10,000,000 estate—assuming he can solve one final riddle. The professor feels that his brother is mocking him from beyond the grave. If Peregrine were alive, he says, he&’d kill him. To crack the puzzle and claim the fortune, Johnny and the professor head north to the wild countryside of far-off Maine. They&’ll find that the riddle is the least of their problems. To inherit the money, the professor must stay alive until the end of the summer, and since everyone in Maine seems to want Peregrine&’s heir dead, survival will be no easy task. From the author of the Lewis Barnavelt novels, including The House with a Clock in Its Walls, the Johnny Dixon series is full of fun, adventure, and supernatural chills, along with &“believable and likable characters&” who are a delight to spend time with (The New York Times).
The Curse of the Blue Figurine: Book One) (Johnny Dixon #1)
by John BellairsA boy sneaks into an old church to confront a mad ghost in this adventure by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls It&’s the 1950s when Johnny Dixon&’s mother dies, his father goes to fight in the Korean War, and he goes to live with his grandparents. Although life in a new house is strange, Johnny&’s &“Grampa&” listens to his favorite ballgames, takes him on long walks, and tells him stories of the strange mysteries that lurk in the shadows. Best of all, he&’s friends with Professor Childermass, an eccentric academic who&’s about to take Johnny on the adventure of a lifetime. When the professor learns Johnny loves ghost stories, he tells the boy the spookiest legend in Duston Heights, Massachusetts—the tale of the haunted church on the edge of town, with demonic carvings on its altar, and the troubled spirit of mad Father Baart, who is said to have killed two people before vanishing long ago. With the professor as his guide, Johnny sets out on a quest that will put him face-to-face with the crazy, long-dead priest. The first book in the delightful Johnny Dixon series by the author who provides &“suspense and action aplenty&” (Booklist), The Curse of the Blue Figurine is a good old-fashioned Gothic adventure.
The Dark Secret of Weatherend (Anthony Monday)
by John BellairsFrom his adventures in The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn teenager Anthony Monday returns to take on a storm of sorcery. Anthony can always count on his friend, sixty-eight-year-old librarian Miss Eells, to break up Hoosac&’s hot summer days with some adventure or other, but this one takes the cake. On their way to get ice cream, they make a side trip to the abandoned mansion of the late J. K. Borkman, a once rich and weird eccentric who was obsessed with the weather. When Anthony finds a diary there, the pages seemed filled with the ramblings of a crazy old man, until Borkman&’s son starts fixing up the dilapidated house—and the storms come. Hail, lightning, and dangerous winds descend upon Hoosac. And when Anthony and Miss Eells connect the wild weather to the diary, they uncover a diabolical plan, black magic, and a son more than willing to finish what his father started . . . &“A wild, ghoulish plot . . . There&’s a nice balance most of the way through between folksy charm and gently intense suspense.&” —Kirkus Reviews &“The atmosphere Bellairs creates is creepy and a little chilling . . . So, wait for a dark and stormy night, grab a blanket and a flashlight and enjoy this eerie mystery.&” —SF Site &“Fast, witty and intricate entertainment.&” —Publishers Weekly &“Pure Bellairs.&” —School Library Journal
The Eyes of the Killer Robot (Johnny Dixon #4)
by John Bellairs13-year-old Johnny Dixon is put in jeopardy when he and Professor Childermass try to find a robot made many years ago by an evil wizard.
The Eyes of the Killer Robot: Book Five) (Johnny Dixon #5)
by John BellairsA boy tries to stop a rampaging robot in this &“deliciously wicked fun&” tale by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls (School Library Journal) When feared Yankees slugger Cliff Bullard goes barnstorming around the northeast, offering $10,000 to any local pitcher who can strike him out, Professor Childermass and Johnny Dixon get a sneaky idea. There&’s a local legend about a crackpot inventor who once built a robot capable of throwing a baseball 110 MPH, and the professor thinks that if they find the machine, they can win Bullard&’s prize. They discover the rusted old monstrosity in an abandoned workshop and put it back together, piece by piece. But when they screw in the robot&’s eyes and it comes to life, they realize they have made a terrible mistake. As soon as it&’s activated, the robot attacks, trying to kill Johnny and the professor. Was it made to be a killing machine, or have its circuits been corroded? To save the town and get a crack at the $10,000, Johnny and the professor will have to tame the steel beast. The adventure stories featuring Johnny Dixon, from the award-winning author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls, are a delightfully imaginative treat, and this book in the popular series features &“a unique plot, marvelous characters, and non-stop suspense&” (School Library Journal).
The Figure In the Shadows (Lewis Barnavelt #2)
by John Bellairs Mercer MayerChubby Lewis, the timid but dauntless hero of The House with a Clock in Its Walls, returns in an even scarier tale of magic and mystery. Investigating the contents of Grandfather Barnavelt's ancient trunk, Lewis and Uncle Jonathan discover an old coin. Lewis hopes it's an amulet whose magic will protect him from bullies. Together with his new friend Rose Rita, he performs a test to find out the coin's power--but neither Lewis nor Rose Rita is prepared for the astonishing and sinister events that follow.
The Lamp from the Warlock's Tomb (Anthony Monday)
by John BellairsA murderous surprise comes to light in this thrilling mystery featuring teenager Anthony Monday, from the author of The Dark Secret of Weatherend. Ever since librarian Myra Eells bought an antique oil lamp, weird things have started to happen in Hoosac—including the murder of a high school maintenance man. Anthony Monday is convinced it&’s haunted, but Miss Eells thinks he&’s just being silly—until she sees a terrifying vision. When they call in Miss Eells&’s brother for help, they learn that the lamp has been stolen from the strange tomb of a Wisconsin lawyer who was involved with the occult. Convinced that evil forces exist inside the lamp, the trio plans to return it to the underground vault. But someone else will do whatever it takes to steal the lamp—and unleash a dark and ancient power upon the world . . . &“Half-mockingly using the colloquial style made familiar in such series books as the Nancy Drew stories, Bellairs keeps the action moving right along.&” —Kirkus Reviews
The Letter, the Witch, and the Ring (Lewis Barnavelt #3)
by John Bellairs Richard EgielskiRose Rita embarks with Mrs. Zimmerman on a summer adventure that turns evil when they reach their destination--a farm the Mrs. Zimmerman inherited--and it seems to be deserted except for a magical destructive force.
The Mansion in the Mist (Anthony Monday)
by John BellairsAnthony Monday takes a vacation to another world in this mind-blowing mystery from the author of The Lamp from the Warlock&’s Tomb. Summer is here and Anthony Monday has been asked to join his friend Miss Eells and her brother Emerson on a vacation to northern Canada, where Emerson owns a no-frills cottage on an island. School may be out, but there&’s still a riddle to be solved: A few years ago, three tourists visiting the cottage disappeared without a trace . . . The cottage has no electricity, but it&’s humming with strange sounds and illusions. Before long, Anthony finds a disappearing chest that turns out to be a portal to another world—a realm populated by evil human-like creatures who want to drag Earth and its inhabitants into their dimension. As Anthony, Miss Eells, and Emerson try to come up with a plan to save the world, they are faced with their own intruder: a visitor from the other side with vengeance on his mind . . . &“The atmosphere throughout this adventuresome chiller is appropriately scary and the villains are certainly evil personified.&” —School Library Journal &“Bellairs&’s characters have a captivating charm that adds to this spellbinding adventure.&” —VOYA &“Throwing in plenty of conventional ingredients (ghosts, illusions, cryptic clues, secret passages, magic amulets, a witches&’ sabbath, cliffhangers, last-instant rescues, etc.), Bellairs dishes up a broth spiced with action [and] suspense.&” —Kirkus Reviews &“While the notion of passage into another world is not new, the late Bellairs provides unique twists.&” —Publishers Weekly
The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt (Johnny Dixon #2)
by John BellairsA clever young man and an eccentric professor search for a missing fortune, in this spooky adventure full of &“marvelous surprises&” (Publishers Weekly) H. Bagwell Glomus built an empire out of cereal. In the 1920s, his Oaty Crisps were the most popular breakfast in the United States, and Mr. Glomus was the wealthiest man in the little town of Gildersleeve, Massachusetts. But he was not a happy man. In 1936, he took his own life and his will was never found. Legend has it that his last will and testament is hidden somewhere in his office, but so far, no one has been able to find it and claim the $10,000 reward. Yet, no one has looked as hard as Johnny Dixon. A precocious young boy who&’s happier reading old books than playing outside, Johnny has a best friend in the eccentric old Professor Childermass, who knows every detail of Mr. Glomus&’s story—except the location of the will. Together, along with a new pal from Boy Scout camp named Fergie, they intend to crack the puzzle—but before they can claim their prize, they must defeat an ancient evil force: a living mummy intent on destroying them. From the award-winning author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls, the Johnny Dixon stories are a refreshingly old-fashioned series of adventure and supernatural mystery. In the world of young adult suspense, few authors have the magic touch of John Bellairs.
The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost (Johnny Dixon #4)
by John BellairsA young man is possessed by an evil spirit in this &“gothic spine-chiller&” by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Booklist) The abandoned schoolhouse sits just outside the town of Duston Heights, Massachusetts, and Johnny Dixon is not sure what called him there. Inside the darkened building, he finds three chilling stained glass windows which show a hooded monster, a vengeful angel, and the hateful, staring face of Zebulon Windrow. Impossibly, the old man speaks to Johnny, threatening revenge on behalf of one of his descendants—and then the room is filled with horrible insects. As they cover Johnny&’s body, moving closer toward his mouth, he awakes and escapes the nightmare. But is Johnny&’s vision of the schoolhouse really just a dream, or is it a warning? When Johnny falls into a strange trance from which he cannot be awakened, his friend Professor Childermass races to save him. To rescue the young boy, the professor must unlock the secret of the dream, and delve into the terrible mysteries of the Windrow estate. The Revenge of the Wizard&’s Ghost is suspenseful, spooky reading for fans of R. L. Stine or anyone looking for a story featuring a middle-school-aged hero facing down grown-up-sized scares.
The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost (Johnny Dixon #4)
by John BellairsA young man is possessed by an evil spirit in this &“gothic spine-chiller&” by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls (Booklist) The abandoned schoolhouse sits just outside the town of Duston Heights, Massachusetts, and Johnny Dixon is not sure what called him there. Inside the darkened building, he finds three chilling stained glass windows which show a hooded monster, a vengeful angel, and the hateful, staring face of Zebulon Windrow. Impossibly, the old man speaks to Johnny, threatening revenge on behalf of one of his descendants—and then the room is filled with horrible insects. As they cover Johnny&’s body, moving closer toward his mouth, he awakes and escapes the nightmare. But is Johnny&’s vision of the schoolhouse really just a dream, or is it a warning? When Johnny falls into a strange trance from which he cannot be awakened, his friend Professor Childermass races to save him. To rescue the young boy, the professor must unlock the secret of the dream, and delve into the terrible mysteries of the Windrow estate. The Revenge of the Wizard&’s Ghost is suspenseful, spooky reading for fans of R. L. Stine or anyone looking for a story featuring a middle-school-aged hero facing down grown-up-sized scares.
The Secret of the Underground Room: Book Eight) (Johnny Dixon #8)
by John BellairsA young hero and his professor friend set out to save a priest from a ghost, in this novel by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls Aside from the eccentric Professor Childermass, young sleuth Johnny Dixon&’s best friend may be Father Higgins, the kindly priest at the local church. When Higgins is transferred to the congregation in the tiny town of Rocks Village, Johnny and the professor are afraid they won&’t see their old friend ever again. But they&’ll be reuniting with Father Higgins sooner than they think—and the thing that brings them together will be positively out of this world. No sooner has Father Higgins moved than he begins seeing a ghost lurking around the church. The apparition is a young girl who never speaks, but has a habit of leaving cryptic notes around Higgins&’s house. When Higgins disappears, Johnny and the professor follow his trail, embarking on a haunting quest that will lead them all the way to England. In The Secret of the Underground Room, this multimillion-selling, Edgar Award–winning author offers a good old-fashioned ghost story packed with adventure and suspense.
The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull (Johnny Dixon #3)
by John BellairsWhen Johnny and the Professor discover an old heirloom clock, the terror begins. The professor vanishes and Johnny is left to solve the mystery alone.
The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull: Book Three) (Johnny Dixon #3)
by John BellairsA bookish boy searches for his missing best friend in this spooky tale by the author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls On a country lane in snowbound 1950s New Hampshire, a car goes skidding off the road. Professor Childermass and Johnny Dixon escape unscathed, but their car is stuck, and they are forced to walk into town. Johnny doesn&’t mind. A curious young man, he has fun anytime the professor takes him out, because he&’s treated like an adult. Together they&’ve gotten into all sorts of supernatural scrapes, and this winter night, they&’ll face their toughest challenge yet. When Childermass suddenly vanishes, Johnny is the only one who can find him. The mystery is linked to a tiny skull taken from a child&’s dollhouse, which seems to have powers too terrible to guess at. With the help of a crusty old Irish priest, Johnny chases the clues to his friend&’s disappearance all the way to the rocky coast of Maine, where something evil hungers for revenge. From the author of the series featuring Lewis Barnavelt and Anthony Monday, the Johnny Dixon novels are charmingly old-school and shot through with suspense, and The Spell of the Sorcerer&’s Skull may be the most chilling of them all.
The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn (Anthony Monday Mystery #1)
by John BellairsWorking on the few clues he has, Anthony Monday sets out to find a treasure that may or may not have been hidden by the town millionaire, Alpheus Winterborn, prior to his death, but the only way he will know is by completing a full search.
The Trolley to Yesterday (Johnny Dixon #6)
by John BellairsJohnny and Fergie track down their strange professor to a secret trolley that sends them back to 1453.
The Trolley to Yesterday: Book Six) (Johnny Dixon #6)
by John BellairsA &“spooky[,] spine-tingling&” time travel adventure that takes a boy and his eccentric professor friend to the mysterious Byzantine Empire (Publishers Weekly) . . . [Description] Johnny Dixon is worried about Professor Childermass. The professor has always been an odd duck, but lately his behavior has been positively bizarre. He&’s been talking to himself and stalking down the street with his collar turned up and his hat over his eyes, and now he won&’t return Johnny&’s calls. Johnny&’s afraid that the professor&’s old age is starting to get to him, but he will soon find it&’s something far more amazing—and far more dangerous. The professor has discovered a trolley that can carry them five hundred years back in time, to the last days of the Byzantine Empire. In the dark and winding streets of Constantinople, he and Johnny confront crusaders, mystics, and thieves as they attempt to save the ancient empire from destruction at the hands of the advancing Turkish armies. Created by the award-winning author of The House with a Clock in Its Walls, Johnny Dixon is one of the most charming young heroes in literature—a spunky, bespectacled young man whose curiosity often gets him into trouble—and his &“wonderfully warming friendship with cantankerous old Professor Childermass makes them an endearing detective team&” (The New York Times).
The Doctor to the Dead: Grotesque Legends and Folk Tales of Old Charleston
by John BennettTwice-told tales about historic Charleston"You ask for a story. I will tell you one, fact for fact and true for true." So begins "Crook-Neck Dick," one of twenty-three stories in this beguiling collection of Charleston lore. John Bennett's interpretations of the legends shared with him by African-descended Charlestonians have entertained generations. Among them are tales of ghosts, conjuring, superhuman feats, and supernatural powers; accounts of ingenuity, humor, terror, mystery, and solidarity will enchant folklorists, students of Charleston history, and all those who love a good ghost story.Julia Eichelberger, the Marybelle Higgins Howe Professor of Southern Literature and an executive board member of the Center for Study of Slavery at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, provides an introduction.
Best of Weird Tales
by John BetancourtTwenty-seven stories from time when Terminus Publishing produced Weird Tales. This volume assembles a selection of stories from the 19 issue fourth incarnation of Weird Tales in the late 1980s to the early 1990s. Some are horror and some are fantasy, some are set today, some take place in the future, others in the distant past. They all have two things in common, though: great writing and classic storytelling.
Snarl
by John BodenMarlin Stains is a lonely man who is filled with words. Words that he longs to share with the world but so far only shares with himself. He has over 300 notebooks brimming with them in his trailer room. A wood-paneled tomb of prose and syllable. Marlin Stains killed his brother in the womb, buried his father when he was a young man and now, a bit older, he watches the same monster devour his mother. While grappling with this, he experiences a combination of exchanges and events that point him on a new trajectory with an outcome that is both expected and anything but. Marlin Stains has learned plenty in his thirty-two years: Love never dies, it just hides for a while and gets punchy. Death is never afraid and never gives a damn. Life is a thing that stretches, sometimes so far that you forget about it until it snaps back and hurts you. A snarl is an angry sound or a tangled trap, Marlin is familiar with both.
Thrift Store Puzzles
by John BodenKen Allenwood is a man being devoured, from the inside out, one memory at a time. A once famed horror writer who now spends his days in an elder care facility waiting for the breath that will be his last and hoping he'll retain at least some memories from his long and unusual life. Ken is over 130 years old...or is he? Has the unraveling fabric of his mind tangled with the threads of his fictive endeavors? Elijah is a boy who adores all things spooky, a boy who spends the bulk of his time alone, his single mother juggling jobs to keep a roof overhead and food in their bellies. Eli occupies his days, hanging out at the home across the street with his uncle/pal, Tierny, one of Mr. Allenwood's many carers as well as Allenwood himself. Afternoons filled with cheesy scary movies and the old man's recollective stories (while he is still able to tell them). Then a change comes to the little town on Cordry. The killings are vicious and devoid of pattern, almost. When Elijah tells Ken about them, the old man grows fearful and decides to use his unreliable windows of focus to help his friends figure out what is going on and who or what is behind the murders. A monster has come to roost in their midst. A creature that craves blood and possibly much more, inheritance of a sort, acknowledgment. A monster from the very dark recesses of Allenwood's mind, a horror very old and very bitter. The things we create have a tenacity, a stubborn strength and a very vicious bite. And no debt glares harder than one owed the heart.
El secreto de Gaudlin Hall
by John BoyneUna novela inquietante que cautiva al lector hasta la última página. Después de perder a su anciano padre, la joven Eliza Caine no tiene más opción que aceptar un puesto de institutriz en la mansión de Gaudlin Hall, en Norfolk. Pero lo que debería ser un trabajo digno y sencillo se convierte en una experiencia espeluznante. En cuanto se apea del tren, un par de manos invisibles intentan arrojarla a la vía, y cuando finalmente llega al caserón, los únicos que salen a recibirla son dos niños, Isabella y Eustace, que aparentemente viven solos. Eliza no sabe quién la ha contratado, y una serie de extraños sucesos la convencen de que algo muy grave está ocurriendo en la casa. Es como si una presencia maligna, que parece querer proteger a los pequeños, se manifestara continuamente, por lo que Eliza comprende que deberá desvelar los secretos que Gaudlin Hall guarda celosamente. Autor de éxitos mundiales como El niño con el pijama de rayas y La casa del propósito especial, John Boyne ha escrito una novela que homenajea a la novela gótica del siglo XIX, con abundantes guiños a Charles Dickens y Wilkie Collins, el relato gira en torno a Eliza Caine, su valerosa e inteligente heroína, que logra superar el miedo a lo desconocido con una fortaleza de espíritu encomiable. La crítica ha dicho...«Muy entretenida, Boyne mantiene al lector en vilo en todo momento y el ritmo es trepidante.»The Times «Una novela maravillosamente siniestra [...], un magnífico viaje a través del miedo, que muestra no sólo cómo éste se crea sino también cómo puede superarse.»The Guardian «Una lección de narración clásica. Boyne trabaja deliberadamente dentro de la tradición y sin embargo nos sumerge en un relato muy original y entretenido que, como todas las historias de fantasmas, reserva su giro inesperado para el final.»The Sunday Independent «Una aventura que encantará a los fans de Dickens e intrigará a quien se atreva a acompañar a la heroína en su viaje.»The Daily Express «Estupenda, accesible y absolutamente entretenida.»The Irish Times «Escrita con brillantez y contención clásica [...]. Boyne logra crear tensión no a partir de los elementos claramente reconocibles sino gracias a la narradora: una mujer de buen corazón atrapada en un mundo claustrofóbico, una protagonista cuya capacidad de adaptación y fortaleza de ánimo nos resultan enormemente atractivas.»The Telegraph
This House Is Haunted
by John BoyneA striking homage to the classic nineteenth century ghost story, from the award-winning and bestselling writer John Boyne. 1867. Eliza Caine arrives in Norfolk to take up her position as governess at Gaudlin Hall on a dark and chilling night. As she makes her way across the station platform, a pair of invisible hands push her from behind into the path of an approaching train. She is only saved by the vigilance of a passing doctor. When she finally arrives, shaken, at the hall she is greeted by the two children in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There are no parents, no adults at all, and no one to represent her mysterious employer. The children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, a second terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong. From the moment she rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence which lives within Gaudlin's walls. Eliza realises that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall's long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past...
Modernism and The Occult
by John BrambleThis study of modernism's high imperial, occult-exotic affiliations presents many well-known figures from the period 1880-1960 in a new light. Modernism and the Occult traces the history of modernist engagement with 'irregular', heterodox and imported knowledge.