John Claude Bemis

John Claude Bemis draws on work as a musician and former elementary teacher to create children’s fantasy energized by Southern folklore and roots music. The White City concludes his Clockwork Dark trilogy at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, where heroes shaped by American legends oppose an industrialist’s supernatural machine. Random House Books for Young Readers issued the finale in 2011. The Prince Who Fell from the Sky, released the following year, takes a different route into middle-grade fantasy: a bear named Casseomae protects a human child in a future where animals believe people have vanished. Bemis grew up in rural eastern North Carolina reading Jack tales, African American trickster stories, fantasy, and science fiction. He also performed in an Americana roots band, and those traditions inform the rhythm and imagery of his Clockwork Dark books. Named Piedmont Laureate for Children’s Literature, he has continued writing adventurous stories that use imaginative worlds to examine community, technology, environmental loss, and the stories cultures tell about their past.