Tag Archives: Of Other Worlds

A Thing of Forms Unknown: Thoughts on C.S. Lewis and Horror with Chris Calderon

Posted on October 31, 2022 by Brenton Dickieson

Within a longer project on C.S. Lewis and the Ransom Cycle, I have outlined a chapter focussing on some instinctive horror elements in Lewis’ science fiction. I have written up the close readings for the piece, but am missing one … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged C.S. Lewis, Classical Mythology, Forms of Things Unknown, Horror, literary criticism, myth, Of Other Worlds, Ray Bradbury, Roger Lancelyn Green, Science Fiction, The Dark Tower, The Outer Limits | 6 Comments

The Legacy of Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis’ Better Than Boswell

Posted on December 17, 2020 by Brenton Dickieson

In the warm and appreciative introduction to a festschrift honouring Walter Hooper (1931-2020), C.S. Lewis and the Church (eds., Judith Wolfe and Brendan N. Wolfe), Andrew Cuneo compares Walter Hooper to James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck and biographer of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Original Research, Reflections | Tagged Andrew Cuneo, C.S. Lewis, Dr. Johnson, God in the Dock, James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, Mere Christianity, Narnia, Of Other Worlds, owen barfield, Past Watchful Dragons, Spirits in Bondage, The Dark Tower, The Preface to Paradise Lost, Walter Hooper, Warren Lewis | 38 Comments

O Foolish Writer: The Living Reality of an Author’s Work, with C.S. Lewis, Stephen King, and Ursula K. Le Guin (Throwback Thursday)

Posted on July 18, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson

Throwback Thursdays are where I find a blog post from the past–raiding either my own blog-hoard or someone else’s–and throw it back out into the digital world. This might be an idea or book that is now relevant again, or … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds, Memorable Quotes, Throwback Thursdays | Tagged brewing, C.S. Lewis, Carrie, Chloe Moretz, Earthsea, Eugene Peterson, fantasy, fictional worlds, Frederick Buechner, Julianne Moore, Of Other Worlds, On Writing, Science Fiction, speculative fiction, Stephen King, Ursula K. Le Guin, writing | 17 Comments

Between Mars and Malacandra, Fantasy and Real Life (A Friday Feature Visit to the Vault)

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

This is a post from 5 years ago that I still quite like. What interested Lewis about planets as a literary backdrop was not their physical properties but their mythical properties—both how they worked in classical and medieval mythology, and how … Continue reading →

Posted in Feature Friday, Thoughtful Essays | Tagged C.S. Lewis, literature, Mars rover, myth, Of Other Worlds, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, science, Science Fiction, The Discarded Image, writing | 15 Comments

How to Read All of C.S. Lewis’ Essays

Posted on February 8, 2017 by Brenton Dickieson

A prodigious essayist, it is this area of C.S. Lewis’ work that I find the most provocative—even more so than the fiction and apologetics books (though there is overlap in the latter category). Whether inspirational or controversial, his brevity, clarity … Continue reading →

Posted in Lewis Biography, Lewis' Essays | Tagged books, C.S. Lewis, Christian Reflections, Christian Reunion, essay writing, God in the Dock, Image and Imagination, Of Other Worlds, Of This and Other Worlds, Present Concerns, Selected Literary Essays, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Literature, The Weight of Glory, The World's Last Night, writing | 60 Comments

A Sarcasta-Review of the Ransom Trilogy by J.B.S. Haldane

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Brenton Dickieson

J.B.S. Haldane was one of the last renaissance men. A polymath, writer, and public intellectual, his Possible Worlds helped give C.S. Lewis a model for writing theological fiction. While Lewis relished in the model–science fiction as a platform for thinking about … Continue reading →

Posted in Fictional Worlds, Memorable Quotes | Tagged C.S. Lewis, fictional worlds, H.G. Wells, J.B.S. Haldane, Of Other Worlds, Possible Worlds, Ransom Trilogy | 25 Comments

O Foolish Writer: The Living Reality of an Author’s Work #WritingWednesdays

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Brenton Dickieson

This post is part of an ongoing series Called Writing Wednesdays. This is repost of an earlier blog for those of us foolish enough to walk down this path. Previous blogs include: The Writer’s Spidey Sense False Starts and Missteps: … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds, Memorable Quotes | Tagged beer, brewing, C.S. Lewis, Carrie, Chloe Moretz, Earthsea, fantasy, fictional worlds, Julianne Moore, Of Other Worlds, On Writing, Science Fiction, speculative fiction, Stephen King, ursula le guin, writing | 11 Comments

O Foolish Writer: The Living Reality of an Author’s Work

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

I think some people think writers, as they build their fictional worlds, simply sit down and invent the details, putting together characters and places and storylines like someone puts together IKEA furniture. We’ll call that the Allen Key Approach to … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds, Memorable Quotes | Tagged beer, brewing, C.S. Lewis, Carrie, Chloë Grace Moretz, Earthsea, fantasy, fictional worlds, Julianne Moore, Of Other Worlds, On Writing, Stephen King, ursula le guin, writing | 5 Comments

Between Mars and Malacandra, Fantasy and Real Life

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Brenton Dickieson

Last Fall the Mars rover Opportunity, after seven years on the red planet with twin rover Spirit, captured stunning pictures of the planet’s surface. We’ve had contact with Mars for some time now, and this panoramic view of the sandy … Continue reading →