Category Archives: Fictional Worlds

The Sea a Sham Born of Uniformity: On Subverting the Normal with Gene Wolfe (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

This year I introduced an occasional feature I call “Throwback Thursday.” This is where I find a blog post from the past–raiding either my own vault or someone else’s–and throw it back out into the digital world. This might be … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, On Writing, Throwback Thursdays | Tagged Anne McCaffrey, books, fantasy, Gene Wolfe, Harry Potter, literature, myth, Science Fiction, The Shadow of The Torturer, Ursula K. Le Guin, ursula le guin, writing, Writing Wednesdays | 9 Comments

The Land Where Oz is North of Middle-earth: Reflections of a Speculative Cosmographer (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on July 26, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

Over the next year, I am introducing an occasional feature I call “Throwback Thursday.” This is where I find a blog post from the past–raiding either my own vault or someone else’s–and throw it back out into the digital world. … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds | Tagged C.S. Lewis, children's literature, fantasy, Fictional Universes, Harry Potter, Holly Black, imagination, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, literature, madeleine l engle, Madeleine L'Engle, maps, Middle Earth, Narnia, The Hobbit, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Winnie the Pooh | 17 Comments

Why Did Star Wars Stick? #MayThe4thBeWithYou #StarWarsDay

Posted on May 4, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

It’s an interesting question. Cheesy lines, over-the-top acting, zippers up the back of the monster’s costume–how many films just like it have found their way into the Betamax bins of history? Yet, Star Wars lives–not only lives, but thrives, growing … 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 | 9 Comments

Resources on David Lyndsay’s Cult Classic “A Voyage to Arcturus”

Posted on April 16, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a scathing review of David Lindsay’s trippy SF morality tale, A Voyage to Arcturus (1920). C.S. Lewis loved this book–and so does genius actor Paul Giamatti, according to the rather peculiar, subtly hypnotic, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Memorable Quotes, News & Links | Tagged A Voyage to Arcturus, C.S. Lewis, David Lindsay, Harold Bloom, J.R.R. Tolkien, Paul Giamatti, Philip Pullman, The Western Canon, Vakula | 5 Comments

Madeleine L’Engle’s Remarkable Accomplishment in The Wrinkle in Time

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

By all accounts, the young Madeleine L’Engle did everything wrong. First, she was a woman writing in a man’s genre in the 1950s and 1960s—and writing soft SF under a feminine name without the ambiguity of initials to hide behind. … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Reflections, Reviews, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged A Wrinkle in Time, fantasy, film, film adaptation, Madeleine L'Engle, Oprah Winfrey, Science Fiction, SF | 24 Comments

C.S. Lewis’ Teenage Bookshelf, and Other Lessons on Reading

Posted on March 19, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

The Beowulf author, Sir Thomas Malory, Jane Austen, William Morris, Charlotte Brontë, and Shakespeare. With the exception of Morris, who is merely an important author of his period, these are all canonical authors. Notably, though, these are all authors that Lewis … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Letters, On Writing, Original Research | Tagged A Preface to Paradise Lost, An Experiment in Criticism, books, C.S. Lewis, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen, literature, Malory, Reader Response Criticism, Reading, Shakespeare, Studies in Words, The Discarded Image, William Morris | 38 Comments

“A Novelist’s Business is Lying”: A Farewell to Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018)

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

I have just heard that Ursula K. Le Guin has passed away. I could be humble about my opinion, but I want to impress upon you that she is one of our very greatest imaginative writers of the last 50 … Continue reading →