John Claude Bemis’s Followers (62)

John Claude Bemis

Website

http://www.johnclaudebemis.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Children's Books, Science Fiction & Fantasy

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From the author website;
I’ve always been fascinated by trains. My grandfather hopped trains all over the country in his “hobo days” and filled my head with curious stories of America’s lost past. Those stories, I suppose, were the beginnings of my first novel, The Nine Pound Hammer.

I grew up in rural eastern North Carolina by a swampy creek on the Neuse River. Yes, I’ve been bitten by a water moccasin, but fortunately not by an alligator. When you live in a county with just one stoplight, you learn how to entertain yourself. As a kid, I read a lot, played in tobacco barns, swam in the river when the jellyfish weren’t too thick, and learned violin and guitar.

Eventually playing classical violin in youth orchestras and playing electric guitar From the author website;
I’ve always been fascinated by trains. My grandfather hopped trains all over the country in his “hobo days” and filled my head with curious stories of America’s lost past. Those stories, I suppose, were the beginnings of my first novel, The Nine Pound Hammer.

I grew up in rural eastern North Carolina by a swampy creek on the Neuse River. Yes, I’ve been bitten by a water moccasin, but fortunately not by an alligator. When you live in a county with just one stoplight, you learn how to entertain yourself. As a kid, I read a lot, played in tobacco barns, swam in the river when the jellyfish weren’t too thick, and learned violin and guitar.

Eventually playing classical violin in youth orchestras and playing electric guitar in a bunch of terrible rock and punk bands led me to American roots music. I’m partial nowadays to vintage country or blues, Cajun or bluegrass, anything with a fiddle or a musical saw. Some friends and I formed a band Hooverville and put out a pair of CDs of original songs. They’re fun to listen to if you like that kind of music.

At UNC-Chapel Hill, I studied Art History and Elementary Education. I taught elementary school for twelve years, mostly 4th and 5th grades as well as being a Gifted Education resource teacher. I got a chance in the classroom to teach the books I loved so much as a kid and discovered a lot of incredible new children’s literature along the way. But something seemed to be missing from my class’s bookshelf: fantasy based on America’s folklore.

Through old-timey music, I became fascinated with the way America’s myths have been passed down through songs. Drawing on the legend of John Henry’s struggle against the steam drill, I thought about how Southern folklore could be turned into epic fantasy. This passion grew into my first novel, The Nine Pound Hammer, a story set in a mythical 19th-century America full of traveling hoodoo conjurers, cowboys, swamp mermaids, and steamboat pirates. The adventures continue in The Wolf Tree and The White City, the other books in the Clockwork Dark trilogy.

I live the small-town life in Hillsborough, North Carolina with my wife, Amy, and daughter, Rose. We spend a lot of time hiking on the trails around our house, going into town for chocolates and coffees, or encouraging our overweight cat Max to run around some. ...more

Combine Editions
John Claude Bemis’s books

Average rating: 3.85 · 2,211 ratings · 386 reviews · 14 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Nine Pound Hammer (The Clockwork Dark, #1) 3.76 avg rating — 977 ratings — published 2009 — 18 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Prince Who Fell from the Sky 3.81 avg rating — 369 ratings — published 2012 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wooden Prince (Out of Abaton #1) 3.87 avg rating — 326 ratings — published 2016 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Wolf Tree (The Clockwork Dark, #2) 3.99 avg rating — 259 ratings — published 2010 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The White City (The Clockwork Dark, #3) 4.02 avg rating — 181 ratings — published 2011 — 14 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lord of Monsters (Out of Abaton #2) 4.11 avg rating — 61 ratings — published 2017 — 9 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rodeo Hawkins and the Daughters of Mayhem: A Graphic Novel by John Claude Bemis, Nicole Miles (illustrator) 4.37 avg rating — 19 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Mystifying Medicine Show 4.60 avg rating — 10 ratings — published 2009 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Flora and the Runaway Rooster 3.33 avg rating — 3 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Rare Lot of John Claude Bemis THE CLOCKWORK DARK Books 1-3 Audio CDs SEALED [Hardcover] John Claude Bemis 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by John Claude Bemis…

Series by John Claude Bemis

The Clockwork Dark (3 books)
by

John Claude Bemis

3.83 avg rating — 1,417 ratings

Out of Abaton (2 books)
by

John Claude Bemis

3.91 avg rating — 387 ratings

Rodeo Hawkins (2 books)
by

John Claude Bemis,

Nicole Miles (Illustrator)

4.37 avg rating — 19 ratings

Polls

What book do you feel should win the Newbery Medal?

(I tried to include all the books we have read, along with the books mentioned on our "the others good and up" thread, and a few on the Newbery 2010 list on goodreads. If, however, I have not included a book you want to vote for just send me a message or write a comment. I will add it to the list.)

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

10 votes 27.0%

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

10 votes 27.0%

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

5 votes 13.5%

Wild Things by Clay Carmichael

3 votes 8.1%

Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick

2 votes 5.4%

Slob by Ellen Potter

2 votes 5.4%

Neil Armstrong is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino

1 vote 2.7%

All the Broken Pieces by Ann Burg

1 vote 2.7%

The Magician's Elephant by Kate DiCamillo

1 vote 2.7%

Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko

1 vote 2.7%

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis by Barbara O'Connor

1 vote 2.7%

A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

0 votes 0.0%

Marcelo In The Real World by Francisco X. Stork

0 votes 0.0%

The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

0 votes 0.0%

Charles and Emma The Darwins' Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman

0 votes 0.0%

Forest Born by Shannon Hale

0 votes 0.0%

The Nine Pound Hammer by John Claude Bemis

0 votes 0.0%

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had by Kristin Levine

0 votes 0.0%

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

0 votes 0.0%

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

0 votes 0.0%

Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

0 votes 0.0%

Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede

0 votes 0.0%

Crossing Stones by Helen Frost

0 votes 0.0%

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur

0 votes 0.0%

Chasing Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson

0 votes 0.0%

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane

0 votes 0.0%

Here's How I See It--Here's How It Is by Heather Henson

0 votes 0.0%

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

0 votes 0.0%

The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech

0 votes 0.0%

The Book of the Maidservant by Rebecca Barnhouse

0 votes 0.0%

37 total votes

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