All the Bells on Earth
From AwardAnnals
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| Author(s) | James P. Blaylock |
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| Publisher | Berkley Pub Group |
| Honors | |
| In the dead of night, a man climbs the tower of St. Anthony’s Church, driven by a compulsive urge to silence the bells. In a deserted alley, a seemingly random victim is consumed by a torrent of flames. And in the deceptive light of day, a mail-order businessman named Walt Stebbins receives a bizarre artifact—a glass jar containing the preserved body of a bluebird. Things like this don’t usually happen in a town like Orange, California. Ordinary people do not expect to face evil—real evil—in their own backyards. But as Walt Stebbins unravels the mystery of… | |
In the dead of night, a man climbs the tower of St. Anthony’s Church, driven by a compulsive urge to silence the bells. In a deserted alley, a seemingly random victim is consumed by a torrent of flames. And in the deceptive light of day, a mail-order businessman named Walt Stebbins receives a bizarre artifact—a glass jar containing the preserved body of a bluebird.
Things like this don’t usually happen in a town like Orange, California. Ordinary people do not expect to face evil—real evil—in their own backyards. But as Walt Stebbins unravels the mystery of the bird in the jar, he learns that every man’s life can sometimes resemble a horror movie. That the battle between good and evil is taking place every day, where you least expect it. And that, in the end, the ordinary qualities of simple human compassion, forgiveness, and love will be our only salvation…
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
This is a homey fantasy, almost excessively so. Doughnuts, family tensions, relatives who arrive in a Winnebago, Christmas decorations, business worries, Uncle Henry’s womanizing, and pyramid schemes wrap Walt Stebbins in layers of detail and distraction. Walt runs a small catalog business out of his garage, and he has no notion of a demonic presence in his town until a package is mistakenly delivered to him. The contents are not the inexpensive Chinese toys and novelties he deals in. The nasty-looking pickled bluebird of happiness (“Best thing come to you. Speak any wish.”) piques Walt’s interest, and he keeps it when he rewraps the box and passes it on to the addressee: the one person in the world Walt loathes, his former friend Robert Argyle. But Walt’s keeping back the bluebird of happiness is the best thing that could have happened to Argyle—and the worst thing that could happen to Walt. What price happiness? If you have to ask …
