Tag Archives: fantasy

2018: A Year of Reading: The Nerd Bit

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

“With such wishes for the New Year as still seem possible” ~ C.S. Lewis to his father from the trenches in France during WWI “Is there any point in wishing each other a happy New Year? Well, yes, I suppose … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reflections | Tagged C.S. Lewis, fantasy, Goodreads, H.P. Lovecraft, Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood, Narnia, Octavia E. Butler, Reading, Science Fiction, Stephen King, Terry Pratchett, William Gibson | 24 Comments

C.S. Lewis And J.R.R. Tolkien: The Unpayable Debt of Writing Friends (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on November 8, 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 Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds, Lewis Biography, Throwback Thursdays | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Conversion, fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, literature, Lord of the Rings, Out of the Silent Planet, publishing dreams, The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit, Tolkien, writing | 3 Comments

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

Posted on October 11, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

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 | 11 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

Good Political Leadership According to Narnia

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

I made the statement almost by accident to some of my grad students: Narnia has a pretty sophisticated political philosophy, especially when you consider it is written for children. As soon as I said it, I knew it to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reflections | Tagged American politics, books, C.S. Lewis, children's literature, fantasy, Narnia, Political Theology, Politics, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew, Trudeau, Trump, UK Politics, war, WWI, WWII | 67 Comments

Little Rooms of Imagination with Madeleine L’Engle and C.S. Lewis (Friday Feature)

Posted on April 13, 2018 by Brenton Dickieson

I tell my students often enough to read the fore-matter in their textbooks. “That’s where the good stuff is,” I argue. “That’s where the author shares his or her vision for writing.” Now, I suspect that students rarely heed my … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Friday, Memorable Quotes, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged A Swiftly Tilting Planet, A Wrinkle in Time, books, C.S. Lewis, children's literature, fairy tales, fantasy, imagination, lion the witch and the wardrobe, literature, Madeleine L'Engle, wardrobe, writing | 7 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 →