Category Archives: Reviews

A Brace of Tolkien Posts for his 132nd Birthday (#TolkienBirthdayToast)

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Brenton Dickieson

As J.R.R. Tolkien was born 69,425,820 minutes ago, give or take. The Tolkien Society is again raising a toast to the Professor on his birthday, 3 January 2023 (see here). After Bilbo left the Shire on his eleventy-first birthday in … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links, Reviews | Tagged art, Bilbo, Blogging, books, fantasy, film adaptation, J.R.R. Tolkien, Leaf by Niggle, literature, Lord of the Rings, Mythopoeia, Peter Jackson, Rings of Power, The Hobbit, The Nature of Middle-earth, Tolkien, Tolkien BIrthday Toast, Tolkien Society | 9 Comments

While Neil Gaiman is Still a (Super Creative and Awesome-to-behold Writerly) Jerk, he is also a Kindly Transmedial Genius, with thoughts on the Graphic Novel adaptation of The Graveyard Book (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on September 13, 2023 by Brenton Dickieson

At A Pilgrim in Narnia, we have an occasional feature called “Throwback Thursday.” By raiding either my own blog hoard or someone else’s, I find an article or review from the past and throw it back out into the digital … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews, Throwback Thursdays | Tagged American Gods, Anne of Green Gables, C.S. Lewis, Hugo Awards, L.M. Montgomery, Neil Gaiman, Newbery Medal, Terry Pratchett, The Graveyard Book, The Screwtape Letters, The Screwtape Letters: Marvel Comics | 4 Comments

Why Did Star Wars Stick? #MayThe4thBeWithYou #StarWarsDay

Posted on May 4, 2023 by Brenton Dickieson

As much as we wonder about it, it’s a question that is not perfectly easy to answer. Long before technologically precise blockbuster films, Star Wars had cheesy lines, over-the-top acting, and zippers up the back of the monster’s costume. How … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Reviews | Tagged #MayThe4thBeWithYou, A New Hope, Dune, film, George Lucas, J.R.R. Tolkien, Larry Niven, May the Fourth, myth, mythopoiea, Ringworld, Ron Howard, Science Fiction, Star Wars, That '70s Show, The Force Awakens | 4 Comments

A Brace of Tolkien Posts for his 131st Birthday (#TolkienBirthdayToast)

Posted on January 3, 2023 by Brenton Dickieson

As J.R.R. Tolkien was born about 68,899,680 minutes ago, the Tolkien Society is once again raising a toast to the Professor on his birthday, 3 January 2022 (see here). After Bilbo left the Shire on his eleventy-first birthday in The … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links, Reviews | Tagged art, Bilbo, Blogging, books, film adaptation, J.R.R. Tolkien, Leaf by Niggle, literature, Lord of the Rings, Mythopoeia, Peter Jackson, Rings of Power, The Hobbit, The Nature of Middle-earth, Tolkien BIrthday Toast, Tolkien Society | 15 Comments

Thoughts on Classic and Contemporary SF vs. Fantasy Hugo Best Novel Award Winners while Failing to Write a Review of a Great Book that was not Nominated

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

Tamsyn Muir’s Locked Tomb Series is a discovery from my stint as a Hugo Award panellist in 2020 and 2021–the years that Gideon the Ninth (book 1) and Harrow the Ninth (book 2) were nominated. As much as I loved these books–and … Continue reading →