Ransom Riggs, Belgium, and the Difference Four Years Makes

Four years ago, fellow mental_floss writer Ransom Riggs was traveling through the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. He was filming a book trailer for his (then-upcoming, now-bestselling) novel, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

Now he's back in Belgium, on the set of the upcoming Miss Peregrine movie, directed by Tim Burton (!). He posted three tweets about the strange new trip:

Ransom's wife, Tahereh Mafi (who is also a bestselling author of young-adult books, by the way), followed up:

Surreal and wonderful. Congratulations, Ransom!

Let's Rewind to 2011

On June 1, 2011, Ransom posted his book trailer. A week later, he posted his "director's cut," shown here. Now, remember, at the time this was a trailer meant to sell a book. There was no talk of a movie, much less a Tim Burton movie, much less one filmed in the same place. Here:

Ransom also posted two photo essays for his Strange Geographies series from the trip. They're: Strange Geographies: Abandoned Belgium, Part I and Strange Geographies: Abandoned Belgium (and Luxembourg), Part II. These are beautiful on their own, but take on a special resonance when you know that he's back in those places for the movie adaptation of his book!

Today, there's a second Miss Peregrine book (Hollow City), and a third (Library of Souls) on the way.

Three cheers for Ransom Riggs! Stay peculiar. Oh yeah, and don't forget that time Ransom Riggs and John Green shared the top of the NYT Bestsellers list together.