Category Archives: Authors

Authors

#JRRTolkien Facts

Leave a comment

Here are the thing we sent out on Twitter in honor of the professor’s birthday in reverse order.

“…they get quite drunk on it. Many young Americans are involved in the stories in a way that I’m not.” #JRRTolkien

The name Sam Gamgee was that of the inventor of a surgical dressing which #JRRTolkien remembered from childhood.

Happy Birthday, Professor Tolkien – “If humans could live as long as some of J. R. R. Tolkien’s famous fantasy chara… ow.ly/1gvXh6

As a boy, #JRRTolkien studied Welsh and Finnish instead of doing his homework.

At Oxford, reading Beowulf aloud magnificently. “The sound of #JRRTolkien made sense of the unknown tongue,” said a student.

“I am in fact a Hobbit. I like gardens, trees and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like plain food.” #JRRTolkien

How can one create a majestic fantasy world like Middle Earth? Read “Leaf by Niggle.” #JRRTolkien

One #JRRTolkien grave, he is called Beren and his wife, Edith, is called Luthien like the beautiful couple in his history…

A visit to #JRRTolkien and Edith’s grave ow.ly/8gX6Y

“… and doing evil, even if ‘realistic’ or ‘prudent,’ always works evil.” David Mills, Touchstone Jan/Feb 2002 #JRRTolkien

“The world of Middle-earth is governed by a Mind with a will and purpose, and in its world doing good always serves the good… #JRRTolkien

“I am a Christian (which can be deduced from my stories) and in fact a Roman Catholic.” #JRRTolkien in a letter

@cslewisdaily Move over a bit, Jack. We have some #JRRTolkien facts for his 120th birthday.

Authors

Happy Birthday, Professor Tolkien

Leave a comment

“If humans could live as long as some of J. R. R. Tolkien’s famous fantasy characters, the author himself would have turned 120-years-old today (3rd January 2012).” Sam Parker has an article on made-up languages, starting with Elvish.

We’re tweeting some Tolkien facts today. #JRRTolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein in Free State Province, South Africa, and the world has never been the same.

Authors

On the Death of Christopher Hitchens

1 Comment

I always enjoyed what heard from Christopher Hitchens. As difficult to hear as some of his opinions were, he seemed to be an interesting, pleasant man at a distance, very smart and a great stone for sharpening one’s mental sword. Cal Thomas reflects on his death in this column, pointing to the truth that has endured centuries of caustic argument.

Hitchens’ brother, Peter, has written about him too, calling him courageous. “I offer it because the word ‘courage’ is often misused today. People sometimes tell me that I have been ‘courageous’ to say something moderately controversial in a public place. Not a bit of it. This is not courage. Courage is deliberately taking a known risk, sometimes physical, sometimes to your livelihood, because you think it is too important not to.”

Authors, Writing

Writing Advice, Pointers, Tid-Bits, and Junk

Leave a comment

“I like to say there are three things that are required for success as a writer: talent, luck, discipline. … [Discipline] is the one that you have to focus on controlling, and you just have to hope and trust in the other two.” —Michael Chabon

More advice like this at Writer’s Digest.

Authors

C.S. Lewis Day

Leave a comment

On this day in 1898, Clive Staples Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland, making our favorite Oxford don more Irish than English (wait, is Tolkien our favorite or Lewis?). Despite being productive mostly with my cough, I put several C.S. Lewis facts on our BwB Twitter feed in honor of the day.

  1. On this day in 1898, C.S. Lewis was born in Belfast, Ireland. What follows today will be #CSLewis facts.
  2. A good starting point for Lewis’ birthday is following @CSLewisDaily 414,861 followers can’t be wrong. (n.s.)
  3. My #CSLewis facts today come from Colin Duriez’ biographical book ow.ly/7IDKt
  4. Lewis met Owen Barfield, one of his best friends, first in 1919 at university. Learn more about Barfield ow.ly/7IDue #CSLewis
  5. G. MacDonald’s “Phantastes” is a very influential book in Lewis’ life. He first found it on March 4 at a train station. #CSLewis facts
  6. One of #CSLewis poems hangs on a wall on Addison’s Walk, Oxford. ow.ly/7IKkU
  7. When his father learned #CSLewis had been elected Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, he cried for joy.
  8. Oxford, Magdalen College, The Kilns, and The Eagle and Child #CSLewis facts ow.ly/7IJGi
  9. #CSLewis first met JRR Tolkien during his first year at Magdalen, 1926. They become life-long friends.
  10. Tolkien described the Inklings as “undertermined, unelected circle of friends who gathered around #CSLewis”
  11. #CSLewis Tutor Kirkpatrick said of 17yo Jack, “He has read more classics than any boy I ever had or indeed…I ever heard of.”
  12. #CSLewis was an great literary critic. He wrote essays on Bunyan, Austen, Shelley and topics such as myth, story, lingustics, and metaphor.
  13. You’ve heard of The Eagle and Child, but #CSLewis “local” pub, that closest to his home, The Kilns, is The Six Bells ow.ly/7IWYE
  14. #CSLewis fully believed “Jesus Christ was the Son of God” on Sept 28, 1931, a few months after his brother Warren did the same.
  15. On receiving #CSLewis letter of praise, Charles Williams replies, “My admiration for the staff work of the Omnipotence rises every day.”
  16. #CSLewis adopted mom, Mrs. Morris, argued furiously with him over his Christian faith.
  17. What books most shaped #CSLewis vocational attitude? Charles Williams’ “Descent into Hell” Chesterton’s “The Everlasting Man”
Authors, Fiction, Publishing

Under the pseudonym of Keith Peterson

Leave a comment


Phil has already mentioned this in prospect, but Andrew Klavan’s early novels, written under the name Keith Peterson, are now in print again from Mysterious Press.
I especially recommend the John Wells novels, the first of which is The Trapdoor.
I do not recommend The Animal Hour.

Authors, Religion

J. R. R. Tolkien, human rights activist

1 Comment

Our friend Dale Nelson sends the link to this piece from the Tolkien and Fantasy website:

This letter isn’t referenced in any of the usual sources, so it makes for a minor discovery. The letter is signed by Tolkien and nine others, comprising the Honorary President of the Newman Association and nine Honorary Vice Presidents, the latter including Tolkien. The letter registers protest at the arrest of the Cardinal Primate of Hungary by the Hungarian government.

Sometimes even Brandywine Books throws a bone to the Catholics.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Authors

"Men must endure their going hence…"

Leave a comment

In their way, these last weeks were not unhappy. Joy had left us, and once again—as in the earliest days—we could turn for comfort only to each other. The wheel had come full circle: once again we were together in the little end room at home, shutting out from our talk the ever-present knowledge that the holidays were ending, that a new term fraught with unknown possibilities awaited us both.

(Warren Lewis, on the last days of his brother C. S. Lewis, from his Memoir published in The Letters of C. S. Lewis [1966].)

Every year at this time I note the anniversary of the death of C. S. Lewis in 1963. There’s been a lot of speculation in recent years as to exactly when it was that Western Civilization began to collapse. Some choose the year 1968, the year the Counterculture came into its own in America, but others fix the date in 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated. I tend to go with 1963, but because that was the year we lost Lewis, not Kennedy.

One way or the other, it’s been downhill ever since.

From the University of Notre Dame, this article on recent scientific findings that indicate there’s a genuine physiological reason why we so often forget what we’ve come for, when we go from one room to another.

New research from psychology Professor Gabriel Radvansky suggests that passing through doorways is the cause of these memory lapses.

“Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an ‘event boundary’ in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away,” Radvansky explains.

“Recalling the decision or activity that was made in a different room is difficult because it has been compartmentalized.”

I expect passing through Wardrobes has a similar effect.