John's Fans (9)

John Claude Bemis

Author profile

gender

male

website

http://www.johnclaudebemis.com/

genre

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

About this author

edit data

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...more 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.(less)

combine editions
Books by John Claude Bemis

Average rating: 3.60 · 283 ratings · 102 reviews · 6 distinct works

	The Nine Pound Hammer (The Clockwork Dark, #1) 3.50 avg rating — 180 ratings — published 2009 — 8 editions	My rating:
	The Wolf Tree (The Clockwork Dark #2) 3.76 avg rating — 58 ratings — published 2010 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The White City (The Clockwork Dark #3) 4.10 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2011 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Prince Who Fell from the Sky 3.68 avg rating — 22 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	My rating:
	The Mystifying Medicine Show 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating	My rating:
	Bull Spec #6 (Bull Spec, #6) by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn (Editor), Kenneth Schneyer (Goodreads Author), Larry Nolen (Contributor) 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2011	My rating:

More books by John Claude Bemis…

Series by John Claude Bemis

The Clockwork Dark (3 books)
by John Claude Bemis

3.60 avg rating — 258 ratings

Upcoming Events

No scheduled events. Add an event.

Polls

What Book Shall We Read in October?

I have chosen books that are getting a lot of attention and were published in July and August. Please let me know if you think a book should be added to the list.

If you get the chance, check and see what your library has before you vote.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

14 votes 82.4%

The Nine Pound Hammer by John Claude Bemis

3 votes 17.6%

17 total votes

3 comments

More...

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite John to Goodreads.