Tag Archives: fantasy

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

Posted on July 26, 2018 by

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Good Political Leadership According to Narnia

Posted on May 8, 2018 by

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 65 Comments

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

Posted on April 13, 2018 by

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

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

Posted on April 9, 2018 by

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 , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Philip Pullman as a Reader of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

Posted on January 29, 2018 by

Philip Pullman is for me a hot-and-cold writer who, fortunately, usually leads with heat. His accomplishment in drawing modern fantasy readers into the worlds of Milton and Dante with the His Dark Materials trilogy is an important one. Lyra in The Golden … Continue reading →

Posted in Reflections | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 38 Comments

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

Posted on January 23, 2018 by

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 →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, On Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 19 Comments

A History of Magic with J. K. Rowling (A New BBC Documentary)

Posted on November 3, 2017 by

Just in time for Hallowe’en, and in concert with the British Library’s “Harry Potter: A History of Magic” exhibit, BBC has produced an hour-long Potterlicious documentary. I saw this film on Twitter yesterday, and thought it was worth sharing–and not … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Friday, Fictional Worlds, News & Links | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments